Pondering over a career path involving suicide prevention efforts

I could easily devote my life to suicide prevention efforts. It’s something that I see as meaningful work, no matter what difficulties arise.

Though, I’m hesitant about going into the field, as I don’t want to use my deceased friends as rocks. I feel as though they wouldn’t mind being my rocks—supporting me, serving as the foundation for good spirits, while I go about living life. But I’m apt to wonder if I’d be happier in a scenario where they aren’t my rocks; and wonder if I’d be able to work in the field without using my feelings towards the suicidal deaths of friends as a daily source of motivation. It just doesn’t sound healthy. On the other hand, it may be important for me to entertain the idea that there is a difference between having deceased friends as a source of daily motivation, and having feelings towards the suicidal deaths of friends as source of daily motivation.

I’m also apt to wonder if it’s ethical to try to prevent suicides. I’ve thought that we’ve been mistaken to think of individuals with suicidal thoughts and individuals who have committed suicide as “mentally ill” and/or as of abnormal dispositions. It may best to see it as perfectly natural to consider committing suicide and natural to commit suicide; and, if this is the case, then people, like myself, who find the idea of engaging in suicide prevention efforts appealing, perhaps should be a bit more discreet in cultivating related outcomes.

I’m also apt to entertain the idea that I’ve already devoted myself to suicide prevention efforts. Through my current involvements at various organizations, it’s arguable that I’m facilitating suicide prevention in a way that is unique to me and my circumstances.