AboutDaryl Taylor, BSc(Hons) Psychology Expertise As a former youth worker, working in the UK and as a Camp Counsellor in the US, I have volunteered and helped young people from all over the world. I have worked for two or three websites like this in the past since I was about 13/14 and I continue to do so now at the age of 23. I can answer problems on a whole range of issues from friends and family, to drugs, sex, alcohol and relationships etc.
Experience I have worked as a youth worker for local organisations, volunteered on this and other websites giving out information for about 8 years, volunteered at my college and university doing face to face counselling and I have recently worked for an organisation in the UK which specialises in helping young people aged 13-19 to make positive decisions in their lives. I have featured in a UK based magazine called Aim Higher as a case study to show triumpth through adversity and I have recieved an Adult Learner's Award for my pioneering work at college.
Question OK,life feels so overwhelming at the moment I am in my last year of school, and I feel like I cant go anymore. Suicide keeps creeping into my thoughts and it is at the stage when I find myself deciding on how I'll do it and when. I definitely cant speak to my parents, that is absolutely not the answer and I am too embarrassed to talk to my school counselor, I did e-mail her once and made an appointment to see her but I was too scared to turn up, scared she would tell my mum, so I didn't go. She didn't e-mail me after that, and I don't know what else to do, I'm scared I wont live for much longer, please help me.
Answer Hey there Jayde,
Firstly let me appologise for the delay in getting back to you: I have been moving house and I have managed to move to the middle of nowhere where there is no internet connection. To ensure that you do not wait a long time for a reply in the future if you contact me again, which I hope that you will do, I have set a vacancy period so that I can reply only when things are settled. Please accept my appolgies and my gratitude for your patience.
No matter how bad things are in your life, how low you feel and how confused things maybe, suicide is never an option worth contemplating and it would not be the end of all your problems. To be brutally honest, suicide is the coward's way out...and you're better than that.
It sounds to me like you do have a lot on your plate and that you could benefit from talking to someone, including your school counsellor. You should not be scared about talking to them about how you are feeling or anything like that because that is what they are there for. School counsellors are there to help you discuss how you are feeling, why you are feeling it and to help you to change your situation so you feel better for it. You will probably find that you are incredibly nervous when you do go for your first appointment but you should find that once you start talking you can't stop. It is about taking the biggest and hardest step and that is making another appointment. If you want help, it is out there, you just need to get yourself along and get talking. You will be amazed at how much better you feel just by talking for five or ten minutes.
Usually, a counsellor will only tell your parents if they are worried that you may harm yourself or others, but even then, they will tell you that this is going to happen. If things are that bad and you are feeling so low, would it be such a bad thing if your parents actually found out?
