01/06/2026
The Urgency of Suicidal Ideation calls for an Urgent Solution.
Here's what I was trained to do:
✓ Safety plan
✓ Provide the crisis hotline number
✓ Start another medication and re-evaluate in weeks or months
✓ If immediate risk: 911, transfer to ED, hope for a psych bed
I used to believe that I was doing the best for my patients.
After 20 years of the same protocols, I realize that
🚨 Contracts DON'T WORK
🚨911 and 5150 Holds literally cause more trauma and train our patients not to trust that they can ask for help.
🚨 Waiting and hoping may not bring your patient back alive.
I've lost patients who were in the ER the day before, after overusing street medications that help them escape from their pain.
😤What I didn't know: The National Institute of Mental Health acknowledged an FDA-approved medication as a rapidly acting antidepressant in 2006 after a small study demonstrated a similar outcome at YALE in 2000. Then it took 13 years for manufacturers to release something similar, and not even as effective.
The part that makes me angry: It's off-patent, so no pharmaceutical company will fund the research needed to make it standard of care for su***de prevention.
Translation: Most doctors never learn about it.
Meanwhile, 132 Americans die by su***de every single day. 😔
Since learning this protocol, I've watched it break the cycle of suicidal ideation—not in weeks or days, but in HOURS.
Real patients. Real results. Real hope.
I can't keep this quiet anymore.
If you're a healthcare provider (physician, NP, PA) working in primary care, urgent care, addiction medicine, emergency medicine, or mental health... And you're tired of feeling helpless when patients are in crisis...
JOIN Change Experts Academy's inaugural group of clinicians in this ethical and evidence-based approach.
Suicidal ideation is URGENT, and our response should be too.
Comment "HOPE" if this resonates and you want to learn more.
Let's provide care when they only see a crisis.
💙 [Tag a provider friend who needs to see this]
***dePrevention