the.com/crisis hotline
a stranger who picks up at 3am so you don't have to be alone with your own brain.
means a phone or text service staffed by trained listeners who help people through suicidal thoughts, panic, or emotional emergencies in real time.
from traces to samaritans, founded in london in 1953 by a vicar named chad varah after officiating the funeral of a 14-year-old girl who died by suicide because she thought she had a disease from her first period; he realized people needed someone to talk to before crisis, not after.
first call rulelisten first, advice almost never, silence is allowed
988us switched from 10-digit number to 3 digits in 2022
volunteer coremost counselors are unpaid, trained volunteers, not clinicians
texting workscrisis text line proves typing feels safer than talking
for instance
samaritans — uk charity, 1953, answers a call every 6 seconds nationally
crisis text line — founded 2013, over 6 million conversations by text alone
trevor project — 1998, dedicated line for lgbtq youth in the us