Pat's Answer

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Ask Pat, you are very welcome. 

It sounds to us that you are putting a lot of thought into whether being depressed and suicidal at age 11 is normal. If this is happening to you or to somebody that you know Childline would be very concerned.

We are worried that at 11 you or somebody that you know, may be having these thoughts and feelings. We are wondering if there are any trusted adults in your life that you could talk this over with. This adult could be a parent, relative or someone you feel comfortable talking to. Is that an option for you? 

You or your friend/relation have the right to get help and support around these feelings of depression and suicide. We want you to know that there are services available to help and support people who are in situations that you are talking about. Some of the services that Childline would recommend to you are Pieta, who help people who are feeling suicidal. Here is a link to their website www.pieta.ie. Another website where you might find some support is the HSE website www.yourmentalhealth.ie. One more is www.jigsaw.ie/.

Our services at Childline are also available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are free and we do not judge or tell you what to do. We are also confidential, we do not trace calls or use caller ID or IP addresses. Childline is a safe place where you can chat to us about anything that is going on for you.  Do you think that you would be able to contact our services to discuss your feelings more and get clarity and chat about options that you have? If so, Childline can be contacted on 1800 66 66 66, or at our text service 50101, and there is our web chat which you can access through our website www.childline.ie.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Ask Pat admires you for being so brave in wanting to chat about your feelings. You are very welcome to contact us at the numbers given above. 

We look forward to hearing from you soon. Take care,

Pat