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After a suicide attempt

For the days and months after: for you, if you are the one who survived, and for the people who love you. This page passes on, by name, what SAMHSA’s handbook written with attempt survivors, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the National Institute of Mental Health say: what you may be feeling, what to say when people ask, how to make a plan to stay safe, how to find a counselor you can afford, what helps if you don’t go to one, and how family and friends can be there. It puts words on a page for you, and prints a card to keep.

Before anything else

Thinking about suicide right now? Call or text 988, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, at any hour. It is free and confidential.
Hurt, or about to hurt yourself? Call 911.
You are still here. SAMHSA’s handbook says: “The important thing is that you’re still here; you’re alive, which means you have time to find healthier and more effective ways to cope with your pain.”
Whatever you feel is okay. The handbook says it is normal to feel several conflicting emotions after a suicide attempt.
It’s your story to tell, or not. That line is the handbook’s. How much you share, and with whom, is up to you.
Someone you love made an attempt? AFSP says: even when you don’t know what to say, just be with them and listen.

Where to start

Go at your own pace. SAMHSA’s handbook says recovery is a process, and that it’s important that you move at your own pace.
Decide ahead what you will say. The handbook says the details of your experience are personal, and it’s up to you to determine what you want to share and with whom.
Reconnect. The handbook says reconnecting with the people and things you love or loved can help instill hope.
Make a plan to stay safe. The handbook says a safety plan is a written list of coping strategies and resources to help you survive a suicidal crisis. Our Safety plan builder walks through one.
Look for a counselor. The handbook says your doctor or the people that helped you in the emergency room might have suggestions, and that most communities have counselors who provide low-cost or free counseling services.
If thoughts of suicide come back. The handbook says what’s important is that you don’t act on those thoughts. Call or text 988.
For family and friends. AFSP says one of the most powerful things you can do is to be present and supportive.

With JavaScript on, this page has more on each of these, and puts the words you choose on one page.

More help

A plan: Safety plan builder and A box for hard days.
The weight underneath: When the heaviness won’t lift and When you hurt yourself to cope.
For the people beside you: When you’re worried about someone.
Care you can afford: When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
Right now: Get help now.
All our free tools.

General information from people who care, not medical advice. We are not doctors or counselors, and this page cannot know what happened to you or what you need. If a doctor, a counselor or a crisis worker who knows you has told you something different, weigh that first. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988. In an emergency, call 911.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, counselor or attempt survivor has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 7, 2026 in three places: SAMHSA’s “A Journey Toward Help and Hope: Your Handbook for Recovery After a Suicide Attempt” (HHS Publication No. SMA-15-4419, printed 2015, a public-domain booklet prepared with a suicide attempt survivor support group); three pages of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (“After an attempt”, “When a loved one has made an attempt” and “Supporting Your Loved One After a Suicide Attempt”); and the National Institute of Mental Health’s “Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide” (revised 2023). The handbook is eleven years old: it prints the Lifeline’s number from that time, and this page gives 988 instead, as AFSP and the National Institute of Mental Health do. We did not repeat its list of websites or the apps it names as recommendations, because we did not check them. SAMHSA once published two shorter brochures for the days after an emergency room visit; we could not find them on its library site on that day, so nothing here is from them. This page describes no method, gives no statistics, and names no medicine. The sentences in the word builder are the handbook’s; everything marked “ours” is ours. It saves nothing: no cookies, no storage, and no analytics on this page.

After a suicide attempt

Before anything else

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