A couple years ago, through an opportunity at my job; I went through training to become a resilience trainer. The short of it is that every once in awhile I’m asked to instruct an 8 hour block of training where I talk to new guys who’ve just arrived about resilience and instruct them on methods to foster a resilient mindset.
I’ve been doing this for 2+ years now and today was the first time I had a class that really impacted me, or I them… i’m not sure which. After I broke them for lunch, one of the individuals I’d been teaching hung around and awkwardly told me he needed to talk, it was apparent he wasn’t completely comfortable, so we waited until the last class member left.
He confided in me that he was having a rough time with things lately because he’d come out to his parents and they were no longer talking to him because of it, and he was having some interpersonal problems with some of his old friends back home. Things being what they are, I then asked if he had any intention or thoughts of harming himself, he quietly nodded.
No amount of training really prepares you for that kind of shock, but ultimately I was able to get him off to see mental health and he’s been admitted for further evaluation. It’s rough knowing he’s restrained somewhere and I feel a modicum of guilt because of it, but better this than finding a way to commit suicide.
I normally try to reserve this blog for writing related articles but this was kinda pressing on my soul.