Case Study: Suicide

Photo: ©Vladimir Zapletin Getty Images via Canva.com

Mable picked up the phone and started calling people at random. Somehow she had your number. Mable said she did not know why she was calling you, but felt as though she should. She began to tell you her story. Mable was at the end of a complicated and frustrating life. She had “tried God,” but He didn’t work for her.

The plans for her death were mapped out last week. The notes were written, and the loose ends were tied. There was nothing else for her to do but take her life. But before she took that final step, she thought she’d make one more phone call. So she called you.

Mable is a divorced Christian and the mother of a teenager. She goes to a Southern Baptist church, though she is not well connected to the church, and the church hasn’t been intentional about building relationally with her.

Mable has not held down a job in fifteen years due to her psychiatrist’s diagnosis and subsequent medications that he has prescribed for her. She is middle-aged, lonely, fearful, and tired. She just wants to end it all. As she says, “What’s the use?”

Case Study Questions

1. What else would you like to know about Mable?
2. What kind of detailed plan would you map out to help her? Be practical.
3. Based on the information that you currently have, how do you think Mable got to the point where she wants to take her life?

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).