Structured therapy several days a week, including DBT skills groups, while you live at home. A strong fit when weekly sessions are not enough.
What we treat
Suicidal thoughts treatment
in Houston
When you are thinking about suicide, it can feel like the pain will never lift and like you are carrying it alone. You are not alone, these thoughts are more common than most people know, and they are treatable. If you are in danger right now, help is one call or text away. When you are safe, we treat the depression, trauma, or pain underneath so the thoughts loosen their hold.
Outpatient care in Montrose, Houston. Most major insurance accepted.
Understanding it
What suicidal thoughts are,
and why they happen.
Suicidal thoughts range from a passing wish that the pain would stop to a detailed plan. Having them does not mean you will act on them, and it does not mean you are broken. It means something has grown heavier than the tools you have to carry it.
For most people, suicidal thoughts are a symptom of something treatable underneath, most often depression or another mood disorder, trauma, or the intense emotional swings that come with conditions like borderline personality disorder. Suicidal ideation is common, and thinking about suicide does not mean you are going to die by it. It is a signal worth taking seriously, and it is a reason to reach out rather than a reason to hide.
Suicidal thoughts are different from self-harm, though the two can overlap and both deserve care. What they share is the pain driving them. When that pain gets treated, and when you build steadier ways to get through the hardest moments, the thoughts tend to lose their grip.
It helps to know the warning signs, in yourself or someone you love, because they are the cue to reach out early. If suicidal thoughts are present at all, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is there around the clock.
Knowing the signs
Warning signs,
in yourself or someone you love.
Suicidal thoughts are often kept hidden, even from the people closest to you. These are some of the signs that it is time to reach out.
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Talking about death or being a burden
Saying they want to die, that others would be better off, or that there is no way out and no reason to keep going.
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Pulling away and putting things in order
Withdrawing from people and routines, giving away belongings, or saying goodbye as if for the last time.
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A change that is new or getting worse
The feelings arrived recently or are building, often after a painful loss, and stopping on your own has not held.
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Reaching for relief in risky ways
Using alcohol or drugs more, taking dangerous chances, or looking into ways to end life.
How urgent it is
When it is an emergency,
and when it is time for more support.
Suicidal thinking exists on a spectrum. Some of it calls for emergency help right now. Some of it can be worked through in outpatient care, once you are safe.
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It is an emergency
If you have a plan, the means to act, or you cannot keep yourself safe, do not wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline any time, or call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Outpatient care, including ours, is not the right setting for an active suicidal emergency. Once you are safe, it can take over the ongoing work.
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The thoughts are frequent or you are struggling to cope
If suicidal thoughts keep returning and weekly therapy has not been enough, a more structured level of care can help. Our intensive outpatient program offers support several days a week while you live at home, and a partial hospitalization program adds a full treatment day when you need more.
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You are stepping down from a hospital or crisis
If you have come through a hospitalization or a crisis, outpatient care is where the real work of staying well continues. We help you keep the gains, treat what led there, and build a life that feels worth staying for.
Our approach
How Lovett treats
suicidal thoughts.
We treat suicidal thoughts by treating the whole picture. That means helping you stay safe, building real skills for the moments the pain peaks, and treating the depression, trauma, or other condition underneath.
Our work with suicidal thoughts happens in outpatient care, once you are safe and stable enough to do it. Suicidal thinking is treatable, and therapy meaningfully reduces risk. The core of our approach is dialectical behavior therapy, a skills-based method built to help you get through intense emotion without acting on it. DBT teaches distress tolerance and emotion regulation, and it has the strongest evidence for reducing suicidal behavior. Alongside it we use cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-informed care, and EMDR when trauma is part of the story.
Your care is led by licensed clinicians who do this work every day. Noemi Chenu, LCSW-S is trained in the collaborative assessment and management of suicidality, an approach built around working with you, not around you. Nikki Hune, PhD, LMSW specializes in suicidality and co-occurring conditions. From your first conversation, safety comes first, and the plan is built around what you are actually facing. If suicidal thoughts are present between sessions, the 988 Lifeline is always there.
Levels of care
Treatment options
at Lovett.
Where you start depends on what you need to stay safe and make progress. Most people begin in one of these. If you need more structure, our partial hospitalization program offers a full treatment day while you still go home each evening.
For suicidal thoughts alongside a mental health condition, substance use, or both, treated together in one plan.
Individual and group therapy on a weekly rhythm, for ongoing work once you are stable or as a step down from more intensive care.
How we work
Therapies we use
for suicidal thoughts.
Care is matched to what is driving the pain for you. These are the approaches we most often draw on.
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DBT for suicidal thoughts
The primary approach: skills for distress tolerance and emotion regulation that give you something to hold onto when the pain peaks.
Explore DBT -
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Naming the thoughts and beliefs that pull you toward hopelessness, and practicing different responses to them.
About CBT -
Trauma-informed care
When suicidal thoughts are rooted in past trauma, care designed to treat the trauma without re-injuring.
About trauma-informed care -
EMDR
A structured, evidence-based way to process the traumatic memories that keep the pain underneath alive.
About EMDR
Common questions
Suicidal thoughts,
answered.
It depends on how immediate the danger is. If you have a plan, the means, or you cannot keep yourself safe, that is an emergency: call or text 988 or call 911 right now. If you are having suicidal thoughts but are safe, outpatient therapy is exactly where this gets treated, and reaching out early is one of the best things you can do.
Reach out to someone this moment rather than facing it alone. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and confidential, 24 hours a day, or call 911 if you are in immediate danger. Once you are safe, we can help you take the next step toward ongoing care.
Yes, most suicidal thinking is treated in outpatient care, as long as you are safe enough to live at home while you do the work. The Lovett Center is an outpatient provider, and our intensive outpatient program adds structure several days a week when weekly therapy is not enough. Hospitalization is for an active emergency, and outpatient care often picks up right after.
About our IOPDialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, has the strongest evidence for reducing suicidal behavior. It teaches concrete skills for getting through intense emotion without acting on it. We also use cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-informed care, and EMDR, and we match the approach to what is driving the pain for you.
Explore DBTSuicidal thoughts are usually a symptom of an underlying condition, not a condition on their own. They commonly occur with depression, trauma, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder, because each one makes emotional pain harder to bear. Treating the underlying condition is a core part of helping the thoughts ease, which is why we look at the whole picture.
Ask directly, listen without panic, and take any talk of suicide seriously. Asking someone if they are thinking about suicide does not plant the idea, and it can be a relief for them to be asked. Stay with them, help them reach 988 or 911 if they are in danger, and encourage them toward care. You can also reach out to us to talk through options.
You are not alone
The pain can ease,
and there is help to get there.
Suicidal thoughts are not the end of your story, and you do not have to carry them by yourself.
When you are ready, a real person at The Lovett Center will listen and help you find the next step. No pressure, no commitment, just a conversation.
Every conversation is confidential. In a crisis, call or text 988 any time to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.