September is suicide awareness month. Sometimes feeling suicidal is less about wanting to die than it is about wanting the emotional or physical pain one is in to end. So often, suicide is about not knowing how to make that pain stop.

So often, those who are suicidal feel like a burden on their friends and loved ones. It is our jobs as friends and loved ones to reassure the person who is considering suicide that they are not a burden on us. It is our job to reassure them that they are loved and worthy of belonging because more often than not, the person who is feeling suicidal feels alone in his pain.

So often, people who are feeling suicidal believe that their friends and loved ones would be better off without them. People who are suicidal believe that by killing themselves, they are doing their loved ones a favor by dying. We must tell them that they are not a burden to us, we must tell them we love and need them in our lives. We must tell them that our lives would never, could never, be the same without them in it.

Suicide is not about being selfish. Suicide is about making the pain one is in stop. There is help for people who are feeling suicidal. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800.273.TALK. Anyone who is feeling suicidal also can go to any hospital emergency room and receive help. There are people who care. There are people who want to help. You are not alone. You never are alone.