My most memorable experience as a counsellor was a case I picked that had the backstory, “I
feel like ending it all”
It wasn’t categorised as an emergency case because the client, Mary (not her real name) had filled the form herself and she was desperate for help when she found MANI.
When I reached out to her, she wasn’t responding for over 24 hours, and when she finally did, she sounded very weak like she had just been beaten in a physical battle. Apparently, she had given up on life and had written a suicide note the previous day which her boyfriend found and was able to stop her; this lead to issues between them because her boyfriend didn’t want to get into trouble and she became more frustrated.
The moment I told her I was there for her and happy to listen to whatever she must be going through, she broke down in tears and she wept uncontrollably for almost 5 mins, at that moment I knew whatever she must be feeling had really gotten to her and the pain was deep. All I kept repeating was….. “take is easy, I am here for you Mary.”
Mary managed to get a hold of herself and what she said to me was “…. the voice keeps telling me to end it all. I try to suppress the feeling but it is taking all of my strength and I am too weak to keep fighting it, even though I know suicide should not be the way out”. She explained how it was draining her mentally and she could not function well, aside loosing interest in everything around her.
As we progressed with our sessions, I was able to help Mary appreciate life and how much her contribution to it would make a difference if she hung around to make that impact but another touching detail from Mary was how she said family tried to help but went the spiritual way and she ended up getting molested by the spiritual care giver and she could not go back to tell her family what transpired. She noted how it messed her mind up the more and she ruled out the possibility of anyone ever understanding her enough to help her predicament; hence the suicide ideations.
I must say it was an eye opener for me to really understand the depth of what people go through and not getting the kind of help they need. I came to the conclusion that we must all work together to prevent suicide.
Being an Online Mental Health Counsellor with Mentally Aware Nigeria (MANI) gives me the opportunity to offer my help to those who need it. This, I am particularly grateful for because it’s one of the best decisions I have made in my life recently.
Happy World Suicide Prevention Month!
Counsellor Lola Iyiola.