CDC<\/a> reports 12.8 million people seriously thought about suicide in 2023 alone. Signs can often include sleeping too much or too little, losing interest in things they once loved and feeling isolated.<\/p>\nCarter says if you\u2019re going to talk to someone about this topic, it\u2019s best to directly address the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst thing you can do is do nothing,\u201d Carter said. \u201cA lot of people are very scared to maybe ask that question, and trainings have really shown us that the best way to identify if someone is experiencing suicidal ideations is to readily ask them \u2018are you having thoughts of suicide, are you having thoughts about killing yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter adds that\u2019s one part of the equation. The other is to let those individuals be heard from and give them the opportunity to open up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re ever in that moment, I encourage you to ask very open-ended questions,\u201d Carter said. \u201cFacilitate the conversation, get as much information from the person as you can. Say things like \u2018what\u2019s making you feel that way?\u201d<\/p>\n
StarCare services are available 24\/7 for those in west Texas who need them as soon as possible. You can also call the 24\/7 crisis line at (806) 740-1414 and StarCare\u2019s mobile crisis outreach team can come to you because one life lost is one too many.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t lose hope,\u201d Carter said. \u201cStay focused on the task at hand and do everything you can to try and help the person. I assure you that if you\u2019re steadfast and you work with the person and you respect the person and treat them with dignity, you can help them on their journey to get through this struggle and get them to where they can feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Bobby Carter is the senior director of diversion programs at StarCare in Lubbock. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-254953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-lubbock","9":"tag-lubbock-headlines","10":"tag-lubbock-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}