If you’re having thoughts of suicide or not wanting to be here, reaching out (even to read a page like this) takes something. We want you to know that what you’re experiencing is something we work with directly and without judgment.
Green Mountain Counseling offers online therapy for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts across Texas.
If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency room.
Understanding Suicidal Thoughts
Suicidal thoughts exist on a spectrum. For some people, they’re passive like a fleeting wish not to wake up, or a vague sense that others would be better off. For others, they’re more active, including specific plans or urges that feel harder to manage. Both ends of this spectrum, and everything in between, deserve professional support.
Suicidal thoughts are almost always a symptom of something else such as depression, trauma, unbearable pain, hopelessness, rather than a rational conclusion. The research on this is clear: with appropriate treatment, the vast majority of people who experience suicidal ideation go on to live meaningful, full lives.
Common experiences associated with suicidal thoughts include:
- Feeling like a burden to others
- Unbearable emotional pain that feels permanent
- Hopelessness — the sense that things will never get better
- Feeling trapped with no way out
- Disconnection from others, feeling profoundly alone
- Rage, shame, or self-hatred
- Prior trauma or loss
How Online Therapy Helps with Suicidal Ideation
Our therapists are trained to work with suicidal ideation as a core clinical competency — not as something to paper over or immediately hospitalize, but as a symptom that has context, that can be understood, and that responds to treatment.
Safety Planning — one of the first and most evidence-supported interventions, safety planning is a collaborative process of identifying warning signs, internal coping strategies, social supports, and crisis resources specific to you. A good safety plan is tailored and practical, not a generic checklist.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was specifically developed to treat chronic suicidality and self-destructive behavior. It builds distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and the skills to create a life worth living. DBT has strong evidence for reducing suicidal behavior.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Suicidal Ideation addresses the cognitive patterns most strongly associated with suicidal thinking — hopelessness, perceived burdensomeness, and the sense of being trapped — and builds active coping.
Underlying Condition Treatment — because suicidal thoughts are usually a symptom of depression, trauma, or another treatable condition, effective treatment of the underlying condition typically reduces suicidal ideation significantly.
Telehealth and Suicidal Ideation: What to Know
Telehealth therapy for suicidal ideation is appropriate for people who are not in acute crisis. It’s for those who are having passive or manageable ideation and are connected enough to engage in regular therapy. Your therapist will assess your current level of risk at intake and regularly throughout treatment.
If your ideation is at a level that requires more intensive support than outpatient therapy can provide, your therapist will work with you to connect you with the appropriate level of care.
You Are Not a Burden
One of the most common beliefs people with suicidal thoughts carry is that they are a burden to the people who love them. That belief is a symptom. It’s not reality. The people in your life want you here. So do we.
Serving Clients Across Texas
We provide online therapy for suicidal ideation to individuals throughout Texas, including Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, and surrounding areas. All therapists are Texas-licensed. Most major insurance plans accepted.
You don’t have to be in a crisis to ask for help. Book a free 15-minute consultation or call us at 210-982-0872.
Frequently Asked Questions
Telehealth therapy is appropriate for many people experiencing suicidal ideation. Your therapist will assess your current level of risk and whether telehealth is the right level of care for your situation. If you need a higher level of support, we’ll help connect you.
No. This concern is understandable but often overstated. Therapists are trained to assess risk and respond proportionately. Hospitalization is typically a last resort for acute, imminent risk, not for sharing thoughts of suicide in therapy. Talking openly about what you’re experiencing is encouraged and important.
Passive ideation involves thoughts of not wanting to be alive or wishing you were dead, without a plan or intent. Active ideation involves specific thoughts about how to die, often with intent or plan. Both are taken seriously; active ideation with plan and intent typically indicates a need for more intensive support.
If you’re not in immediate danger, outpatient therapy is often the appropriate first step. If your symptoms require more intensive support than weekly therapy, options include intensive outpatient programs (IOP) and partial hospitalization programs (PHP) — both of which are less intensive than inpatient hospitalization.
You don’t have to have scripted language, and you can share as little or as much as you like on that first call. You can say “I want to talk to someone.” That’s enough. We’ll take it from there.