suicide first aid

We have all been encouraged to be alert to the possibility that someone we know is in some kind of crisis, and to ask the simple question How are you feeling? rather than shy away from the difficulty.  We have been encouraged to contemplate how to approach the issue, how to respond if someone tells us they are in trouble, what to do to help them.  A way of simplifying this is to liken it to providing first aid to someone in a physical medical crisis.  In this case we are supplying first aid to someone in a mental medical crisis, someone who is contemplating suicide.