A loved one with whom I live is currently in an inpatient mental health facility after an unsuccessful suicide attempt (they’re physically fine now, thanks for your concern). We’ve reached a mutual decision to secure medications and knives (to date, their ‘preferred’ methods of self-harm) prior to their discharge. I need help figuring out the best way to accomplish this with methods and materials available in the US market. We have several days, maybe a week, to figure this out.
I think what I’m in the market for is a small/medium size gun safe for the medications. I’m aware that no safe is 100% secure but I want something robust enough to where it can’t be raked, bypassed, or easily opened in a destructive manner.
I’m less sure what to do about the kitchen knives. I’m trying to figure out where I’m at on the tradeoff between convenience of obtaining them for cooking, vs keeping them inaccessible to a person in crisis. Am I looking for another (smaller) gun safe here?
I guess there’s no reason I couldn’t throw all these things in the same safe, I suppose I’m just picturing it being more convenient to have smaller safes (which can be hidden or otherwise concealed) instead of a larger one which stands out.
To anyone reading who’s been in this situation before… I’d love to hear any and all advice and experiences, for those comfortable sharing. I suspect there are things I could do to secure the home which I haven’t even considered yet. Thanks, and I love you for reading all this.
same cw’s as post, spoilering just in case
To start, I am not a professional, I have just been on the receiving end of a lot of crisis-related psychiatric care.
From my own personal experience, it may be worth it to consider writing down a safety plan with your loved one if this hasn’t been done already. Usually when I’ve done it in the past it’s consisted of ways to keep myself safe (which you are already tackling,) reminders of distraction methods and coping skills, a list of trusted people to contact in a crisis situation, and reminders of why life is worth living (i.e, i am loved, i need to outlive [hated politician or public figure,] etc.) this may not be for everyone however.
Is there a cabinet in the kitchen you can secure with a lock? I am not sure if it would be enough to deter breaking the whole cabinet open in this specific case, but you could keep knives in there and even the medications if you wish. Maybe even put the meds in a small safe inside the locked cabinet for an extra layer of security if you end up getting one. I obviously don’t know the specifics of what’s accessible in your home, but it’s also worth thinking about securing objects that aren’t necessarily the preferred method of harm but could be used to achieve the same outcomes (i.e, if you are locking up prescription medications to prevent abuse or an overdose, are there any over the counter medications that are around that could still be used in a harmful manner?)
I am glad your loved one is on the path to healing, collaboration is key and it seems like you’re already doing a great job of it.
Thank you, and yes, I should have mentioned that a really solid safety plan is absolutely going to be part of our lives going forward. IMO… on paper I think that’s going to be more effective than any of these deterrence methods I’m asking about anyway. Thanks for mentioning it.
Keeping the knives in a locked box in a kitchen cabinet seems like a not-horrible option, so thanks for that.
That’s great advice about OTC meds, too, thanks. I can say we’re already aware but if anyone in a similar situation reading this isn’t… lock those up too!
I hope you’re doing OK now, and thanks for the kind words.