I think the best piece of advice I could offer to somebody who’s considering suicide and not just professionally, but personally, there’s a lot of power in asking for help, and you realize so much how you’re not alone. And sometimes that first step of reaching out is the scariest and the hardest. But once you’re able to be vulnerable and you’re able to ask for help and you’re able to look at things that you can do that you would feel comfortable with to support you through this time, there’s usually a lot of support.

And if you don’t find support in the first place, reach out to another because it is there. It is available.

So in thinking about reaching out for services and support, like some of the hotlines or some of the tech services that are available for crisis services, the first thing to remember is you don’t have to be at eminent risk or the peak point of prices to reach out. They talk to people every day, all day. They receive thousands of contacts a day, and it’s for a wide range of issues and concerns. It’s scary to reach out. I think the first thing you can do when you do reach out is, say, I’m a little uncomfortable right now.

I’ve never reached out before. If you feel like your needs aren’t being met by that crisis counselor or coordinator that you talk to, ask say, hey, I’m from the Asian American community. Is there somebody on your staff who I can talk to or who can call me back that will be able to understand these concerns more? Or I work in the agricultural industry, and I don’t feel like my concerns around what I’m facing as part of that community or be hurt. Do you have somebody on staff who has worked in the agricultural industry and understand the financial concerns that I’m talking about?

It’s okay to ask for that. The other thing to remember is that those calls are confidential and anonymous, with the exception of a few are absolutely in an immediate risk. And so these people talk to you every day, all day, and they’re really, really good at what they do. And more often than not, they can get you to a place where you’re feeling States, where you’re feeling supported, where you know about community resources within your area, and they can even call you back and check in on how things are going and help you get connected to those resources.

So it’s scary first step, but it can really cascaded to a lot of really helpful support methods.