I was arrested three times in 2019. Once for totally cool law breaking and twice for being careless with my words. I honestly don't know how else being handcuffed, locked in a (absolutely filthy) back seat can be described, because the responding law enforcement's handling of me in these unrelated incidents was identical. Trying to be objective, I can understand the reasoning behind using law enforcement to contain a suicidal individual. "These are the people trained to deal with tense shit, call them to handle it." The logic is there. The unfortunate effect this has folks who think the way I do/see the world the way I do (and thus more likely to desire leaving it!) is we already have little to no trust in law enforcement because they are the natural enemy of free will, and Mandatory Reporting reinforces that mindset. When medical professionals, who are the natural ally of human thriving collaborate with law enforcement, our trust in them is lessened, perhaps even lost entirely.
Sorry I'm getting a little off point. The short answer is yes, any health provider is a Mandatory Reporter (school teachers, etc. are too) and are required by law to report certain things including suicidal ideation.
So nowadays, I make sure my provider and I get on the same page immediately. I tell them what happened (regarding police) and why that doesn't work for me and then I tell them why. I will tell them that I'm going to push them to gauge how much pushback they give. I have vocally said to more than one mental health professional "I'm going to say a few things that I don't actually mean to see where your line is." I need to see at what point I "cross the line" with that person. I want to observe their reactions to the things I have to say, frankly so I can decide if they're qualified to provide mental health treatment to me or not. This takes a degree of arrogance and ego on my part. "Are you good enough to be my doctor? Because I am very smart and charming and attractive and I know you know it, so if you're an Emotional Weakling™, please do let me know so I can move on." It feels good to feel like they need to prove their worthiness. I want to give them a wide range of samples of my personality and see what they do with it. The desired outcome is they realize exactly what I'm doing, which includes both intimately understanding understanding my words AND the subtle facial gestures and body language. I want them to wonder why I paused for 3 seconds instead of the usual 5, because yes it does matter. And once they've got a good feel for my person, I can finally talk about suicide in a productive manner. At that point they can differentiate between words and intents.
I built a strong relationship with my previous therapist and was fortunate enough to get in person visits even during Covid height. I felt borderline inappropriate a few times, but you know what? Once that barrier is dropped, you can actually communicate for reals. Without honest communication, therapy is useless.
