Hi all. Before I start, can I just say that it has been very difficult for me to talk about it because I feel like I may be talking about someone else’s business to people that I do not know, that’s why I have chosen to post this anonymously. I will also be using a fake name to protect my friend’s identity.

Susan and I have been best friends since childhood and I love her to bits. She’s like my sister. Susan is a 30 year old woman. For the past 7 years, she has been struggling with her mental health and I am always there for her. Her mental health seems to be getting worse because she has been suicidal for a while. Sadly, my friend is refusing to get professional help so I have to always do all I can to be physically, emotionally and mentally there for her. I find that this is starting to affect me because I fear for her. Sometimes I panic randomly hoping that she hasn’t done anything bad to herself. All we talk about now is my friend… our discussions are always around her mental health, me talking her out of suicide and self harm, etc. I was in labour, and my friend sent me a message to say that she was feeling suicidal again, instead of me focusing on giving birth I was focusing on my friend and making sure that she didn’t do anything to herself. Imagine having a long day at work, looking after your kids, etc and when you want to relax, you get a text message that causes you to panic and you spend hours on the phone to someone to cheer them up so they won’t self-harm, when you need cheering up yourself. Please forgive me for feeling like this but I am starting to feel drained. I just feel like I can’t continue to surround myself with that energy anymore but I don’t ever want to abandon my friend when she needs me the most. I really don’t know what else to do. How can I help her if she’s refusing to seek professional help? Do I have any medical right to actually ask for help on her behalf? Sadly, she does not have any family so I am literally like the only family that she has. I don’t know what else to do.