The Helper’s Role

Return to “The Six Man Project”

You are the “Six Man”!

But what is your role as a helper in all this? What should you be expecting of yourself? Let us lay out some expectations for your involvement in this project.

1. You are not the one responsible for your buddy’s survival. That burden does not belong to you. Please repeat. That burden does not belong to you.
2. You are to rely continuously on the Holy Spirit, for you are stepping into matters of major consequence. Your buddy’s physical safety and eternal destiny are at stake, so you are not to step in unaware or unprepared. (Repeat item 1.)
3. With prayer and humility, you are to ask God to use you … yes, even if you are, as a friend describes himself, “a dumb grunt.”
4. You are uniquely prepared and positioned for God to lead you into the battle field to bring back your wounded friend.
5. You are to connect with others in the project for encouragement, news, helpful insights and information, linking resources. You are not to attempt this on your own.

Practically speaking

How this project plays out depends on what you learn and experience … and share with the rest of us. We are, as they say, building the plane in flight.

“My view is that this need to belong is so powerful that, when satisfied, it can prevent suicide even when perceived burdensomeness and the acquired ability to enact lethal self-injury are in place.” Dr. Thomas Joiner, “Why People Die By Suicide,” page 118.

Here is what we think this will look like:

1. We want to you to team up with the other “six men” in your battalion and regularly meet (skype, hangout, facetime, conference call, personal visit) to pray and plan and review. Work together to identify the men in the battalion and who knows which person.
2. We want you to read through the main articles in the Six Man Project website. You need to be prepared.
3. We want you to connect with those you know in the battalion, in particular your own unit. You can do this by whatever means you have available (social media, phone, letter, email, personal visit, etc.)
4. We want you to try to ascertain the emotional and spiritual health of your buddies. The article on “Risk Assessment” will give you some guidelines on doing this.
5. Based on what you learn, we want you to take the most appropriate next steps:
   • Does he seem to be a high suicide risk? Get help! (See “Critical Action.”)
   • Does he seem to be getting close to the edge of the precipice? Make that personal connection that will remind him he does belong and he does have value. If you are not geographically nearby, connect with the other “Six Men” and see if you can find someone in the vicinity who can meet up with him.
   • Does he need personal or spiritual motivation?  See if you can help him to identify the need or issue and to discover for himself possible solutions.
   • Set a time or place to connect again … soon.

Beyond that, we don’t know what this might look like.

What we want is for you to be a proactive, intentional friend.

Our goal is to ensure that every man knows that he belongs, that he is connected. That every man knows there is someone he can turn to at points of crisis, someone who will listen and hear him.

Our belief is that by reestablishing connections we will stem the tide of suicide by those who are convinced that they do not matter to anyone.

Our belief is that God can use you to impact lives for eternity.