70 | Moment of Action: TIP Breaks Through

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Action - We enter the fourth phase of the STEPS model — TIP — the moment when suicidal thought becomes action.

TIP is an acronym for:
 T – Tension Builds – the lead-up to the act: the events, emotions, and pressures that coiled the thread so tight it broke.
I – Impact Unfolds – the act itself: whether impulsive or rehearsed, interrupted or completed, and the mindset that accompanied it.
P – Postscript Remains – the immediate aftermath: what followed physically, emotionally, and relationally when survival was still possible.

We explore how the crossing into action can happen in two ways:

• Gradually, through the NEEDLE phase, as intention sharpens into planning.
• Or suddenly — as it does for one in four people — bypassing planning entirely and leaping straight from ideation into action.

Drawing on trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, and solution-focused strategies, we discuss how to have these critical conversations — most often in the hours or first day after an attempt — to validate the pain, uncover the story of the rupture, and begin to stitch safety back into the weave of a life that has been torn.

Ari’s story returns, showing how the second time was different — fast, impulsive, fuelled by alcohol — and how a knock at the door became the thread that held.

Because the story does not end at the point of rupture.
 Not if the person is still breathing.
 Not if we are still listening.

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