Yes, go get help. But, as with HR, school psychologists exist --at least in part-- to protect the school. Finding your own psychologist may help ensure that they are motivated by your best interests, not the schools.

Check yourself into a hospital and get things started that way. The doctors, nurses and case workers will help you get everything setup for you and you will have the ability to get the required help right away.

But don't go down that road alone. let someone in your life know you are having these problems and are getting help. Being alone on that journey is difficult. The big thing is taking that risk with being vulnerable with someone.

> Check yourself into a hospital and get things started that way. The doctors, nurses and case workers will help you get everything setup for you...

I've had two different close family members admitted to a hospital for suicidal intentions. In both cases the treatment at the hospital made matters worse, not better. One was 5150'd (in the state of California a patient can be taken by force to a mental health facility and held there against their will for an unspecified period of time if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others), the other was nearly 5150'd. They were heavily sedated and given a bed at one facility or the other, medicated further, and then released without follow-up.

In both cases the takeaway for the people involved was that they never wanted to go through that again -- so next time (and there was a next time, and a time after...) they would hide it from other family members or threaten themselves or others if anyone contacted law enforcement or tried to take them to a hospital.

"Go get help" is extraordinarily difficult to actually do. The help available is almost always more concerned about short-term liability instead of long-term health.

That's probably prohibitively expensive for many students.

There are free clinics most places and free hotlines everywhere.

What? The article says that that meeting, where he was dismissed, was a result of his seeking counseling.

The mistake was seeking counseling at a college. You just shouldn't do that. I think many students would be surprised to find they have no doctor-patient confidentiality and, in fact, there are several documented instances of colleges using medical records or therapy notes against students as part of disciplinary hearings or to defend against lawsuits. That shouldn't be allowed and I hope someone fixes it.

But I think the answer is to seek help off-campus. Not to avoid getting help.

Well, yes, I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn these things, which is part of why this article is being written.

Yes, and I hope people take away "we need to close that loophole" and "students should seek help off campus" NOT "don't seek help"

I don't think that's really what this article is arguing for either.

The issue is that at his age, no one wants to help. It's easy to say go help, but when you're friends are suppose to be a pillar of support, it's rough. Sure, you have family, but you're family will always be there. What you need to be is surrounded by people who care for you.

My brother went missing more than six years ago, presumably committed suicide. Going back through his emails and chat history, he constantly expressed the fact he was depressed and considered suicide. Instead, all his friends turned their backs on him and told him to talk to someone else. What they should have said instead is, how can I help?

Friends can't help. They're not qualified to help and they aren't impartial. Seek professional help. If you accidentally cut off a limb, you don't expect your friends to be able to take care of you either -- sure, they can offer first aid, but that's only meant to stabilize you until someone more qualified can take over.

If normal people can't afford professional help, there's something extremely wrong with your healthcare system. Then again, this is the United States we're talking about -- and socialised health care still seems to be a new idea to them.