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Nope. Instead I'll do what I should have done in the first place - make my point by using a fictional example. The example: One morning we log on, coffee in hand, to find one of our regular users, an old friend to many, reports he's depressed and can't seem to find a reason for living.. He details fantasies about how he could kill himself. You know, from his comments, that his family has no clue of his suicidal thoughts. If I cared what happened here, and was worried he was a credible threat to himself, I'd probably ask someone who could read such behavior better than I, for advice, if I knew doing so would be casual and off the record. So I show the expert the item, without additional information or identifying information. The advice comes back that it's scary stuff, to be sure, and, "A really hard call", but it could be benign venting. So I ponder what to do and decide to wait it out a bit longer. But I'm watching and ready to intervene if the threats persist. But low and behold, time and professional help, and community support seems to be be helping enough that the threats slow and cease. In the end pointing his family to the discussion wasn't necessary and I'm relieved to not be involved. But it was a gamble. If I'd decided to let the family know of his suicidal statements, would that have been wrong? I'm still not sure. When someone makes such provocative statements it's usually a call for help. Usually. But how much help is appropriate when the threats are made in a public forum where we encourage people to tell all? Would going to the family have been the right thing to do no matter how clear it was he was in deep trouble? To be honest, in the situation I faced, I decided to do nothing. Some of my inaction was due to the fact I didn't have to intervene, legally. Had this been a child, yes, the law requires a nurse to inform the parent. But I can simply watch when it's an adult and I'm off duty. That sounds so cold, but it's true. So this is a powerful thing we've got going. We encourage anyone to share their most personal problems, but on a public access system, where items live forever, and all that help you got will live on and on, helping others whether you want it there or not. Is it any wonder that every once in a while we get confused about the priorities? Which is it? Open access? No censorship? Control of private information? That's what we have to find out.
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