When I was in the eighth grade, I was presented with a challenge unlike any other that I had faced up until that point. I was forced to make a difficult decision for which there was no way I could’ve been adequately prepared. It all started when my friend confided in me and a couple of our friends that she had been self-harming. This confession caught me completely by surprise. Hearing that the person I thought was always so bubbly and positive was struggling with problems severe enough that she would turn to harming herself was something I was completely shocked to hear. After getting past the initial unbelief that what she was saying was true, I immediately was reminded of what I had to do. In our middle school’s extensive suicide prevention awareness discussions, we were instructed to tell a trusted adult about the situation as soon as we could. However, our friend …show more content…
Because of the fact that we were on a field trip at the time, we did not have the opportunity to talk to a school counselor that day, so we decided that the next day we could go down to the office together and express the concern we had for our friend’s safety. When I got home that day, my parents noticed that something was bothering me so I told them all about this tough choice we had to make. I told them that I felt like I was breaking her trust by telling the counselor against her will. But they comforted me and assured me that she would be safe and that telling a counselor was really the only choice we had. If we were to not tell a counselor, there would be no way for her to gain access to the help that she needed to get through this tough time. They said that it was better for her to be safe and mad at me then for me to have to carry the weight of responsibility if something were to happen to her. Ultimately, it was their encouragement that gave me the extra boost of confidence I needed to talk to the school’s