The Crisis Text Line Is an Anonymous, 24-hour Counseling Service

When opening up to someone in person about mental health issues is tough, one alternative is to use Crisis Text Line, a 24-hour counseling service based around texting. It provides texters with a safe, anonymized, and confidential medium to talk things out with trained volunteer counselors.

Text 741-741 with the message “START” to begin the conversation. Texters will first receive an automated response giving some details, but ultimately, it asks: “What’s on your mind?” According to Mashable, these initial texts follow an algorithmic design that’s similar to hospital care: the people with the most urgent needs are seen first. If the text is “I want to die…” or something equally concerning, they are attended to by a live, trained “Crisis Counselor” as quickly as possible.

The goal of the Crisis Counselor is to move people from a “hot moment” (like wanting to inflict harm onto themselves or others) to a “cool moment,” keeping them safe and healthy. They do so through active listening, empathy, and respect. These counselors are volunteers who’ve been selected and gone through rigorous training (which you can learn more about here.) If you’d like to volunteer to be a Crisis Counselor, you can apply through their sign-up form here.

Anonymity is important. The free texts to Crisis Text Line will not show up on phone bills if they’re associated with the major U.S. carriers (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile). It’s possible they may show up on other carriers, though. Anyone can request to have their information scrubbed from the company’s system by texting the word “loofah” or “lufah.”

While Crisis Text Line is a legitimate way to seek help, they stress that they are not a replacement for long-term counseling, in-person therapy, or a friend. You can find more information on their FAQ page here. For international resources, check this list on Suicide.org.