Mental Health, Sonichu, and You- A Club CWCki Note on Mental Health Crises

The Chris-following community, regardless of what site you're on, is one that is well known to be beset by a multitude of mental health issues. Normally, this doesn't effect things much- members having depression flare-ups will go quiet for a bit, someone might mention that they're feeling down lately in a post, @dormiebasne might start scrawling depraved sex fiction on the walls of his cell in excrement, but overall things go on as they normally do. Sometimes, though, someone is beset by a serious mental health crisis.

There's little way to say this without coming off as a dick, but Chris communities are possibly the worst place to discuss suicidal feelings or self-harm in public.

Public posts about mental health issues that leak out into non-relevant threads derail them and make site use uncomfortable. The forums as a whole are a poor place for serious discussions. A bunch of people who sit around and laugh at the mentally impaired for fun are profoundly unequipped to deal with the life-threatening mental health crises of people they know only through the internet.

If you are having a serious crisis, I highly suggest contacting a professional mental health worker, PM-ing with friends, or discussing things with family. It is an emergency and should be treated as such.

As far as posting goes, I'll probably trim posts about people's serious crises when and if they arrive. Not because staff doesn't care, but because the community can't help you.

If you have no one else to talk to and feel you absolutely need to talk to someone, there are resources available:

National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Other resources: https://afsp.org/find-support/resources/
International resources: https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

Thank you
-The Staff