We never leave you on read
Hi, my name is Randi. Thank you for texting in tonight. It takes courage to reach out. Tell me more about what is that has led you to text in. I am here to listen to you and support you in any way that I can.
According to Mental Health America, more than 44 million adults have a mental condition and 1 in 5 reporting that they have unmet needs (“The State of Mental Health in America”, 2018). Some are uninsured, some do not have the means to access care such as transportation or lack of services offered within the area. Regardless of the reason, many Americans are suffering daily with approximately 123 committing suicide a day making suicide the 10th leading cause of death regardless of age in the United States (“Suicide Statistics and Facts – SAVE”, 2018). One visionary, Stephanie Shih saw the need for a place to go for those experiencing trauma and mental illness that was quick to respond and listen, be supportive, and point others in the right direction so they can receive the help that they need. Shih, working for a nonprofit DoSomething.org, a group that sends texts to local youth encouraging them to become active volunteers within their community, received a text stating “He won’t stop raping me”, a few hours later another text “R u there?” (Gregory, 2015). There was no protocol for these messages. Shih brought this to her C.E.O. Nancy Lublin and two years later Crisis Text Line became the first and only free national 24/7 crisis-intervention hotline that operates exclusively through text message. What started in two cities (Chicago and El Paso) quickly spread to reach all 295 area codes within four months with zero marketing and faster growth than when Facebook first launched (Lublin, 2015).
The idea is simple, a texter texts the number 741741 and within minutes a trained crisis counselor will respond through an online platform with a casual greeting and a willingness to help that surprises many texters. There is no judgment, no problem too small. The system has grown drastically since its birth five years ago in August 2013 and has sent out more than 88, 217,385 text messages (“Crisis Trends – Crisis Text Line”, 2018). The beautiful thing about a text-based system is that it is private and nobody will hear you talking. The texters identify remains anonymous, texters can talk to a trained crisis counselor in a crowded room and nobody will know, and they receive the immediate help they need. A girl can sit down at lunch and text in about her eating disorder and her friends are none the wiser. A teen can text in their room at night about their father physically abusing them and the father won’t know, but that teen is reminded that the violence isn’t their fault and are given resources to help them fight their way out of a terrible living situation. There are resources for veterans, homelessness, free legal help, mental services, LGBTQ+ based services, bullying, anxiety, depression, grief, substance abuse, the list goes on.
Many of the texters text in saying things like “I don’t want to live anymore,” “I want to die.” The crisis counselor quickly builds rapport with the texter and does a risk assessment to identify how close the texter is to take their own life. According to 2015 TED talk, Nancy stated that on average there are 2.41 active rescues a day, meaning that the texter was in the process of taking their own life or was planning on doing so within the next 24 hours and the crisis counselor could not get the texter to guarantee their safety (Lublin, 2015). Nancy goes on to say “The beautiful thing about Crisis Text Line is that these are strangers counseling other strangers on the most intimate issues, and getting them from hot moments to cold moments…” (Lublin, 2015). These crisis counselors are volunteers that complete a 40-hour training and dedicate a minimum of 200 hours to helping others. They are trained to bring texters from a hot moment to a cool calm through active listening, and collaborative problem solving (“Crisis Text Line”, 2018). They log in from their own personal computers and handle multiple conversations at one time to make sure that each texter receives all the care and love they need.
Not only is the Crisis Text Line directly impacting individual lives, but the data that is being collected and publicly shared is also making a huge difference in the way we think about and track crisis. The personally identifiable information is scrubbed and the data is shared to assist other professionals to write policy and increase awareness nationally. The data is being used to make the world a better place and using social media platforms to reach as many people as possible. Algorithms in the system take keywords such as “depression” and “suicide” and bump them to the top of the queue so they can reach a crisis counselor faster than a texter who may just be having a bad day and needing an ear to listen. Regardless, each texter will receive a crisis counselor as fast as the counselors can. Many times, it may take time depending on how big of a ‘spike’ the server is seeing. Recently a post on social media went viral: “Did you know that if you text “Home” to 741741 when you are feeling depressed, sad, or going through any kind of emotional crisis, a crisis worker will text you back immediately and continue to text with you? Sometimes it’s best to just talk it out with someone who has no personal bias. Many people, especially younger ones, prefer text to talk on the phone. It’s a free service to anyone; teens, adults, etc. who live in the US. Depression is real, you’re not alone. 💚 You just have to copy & paste” and the amount of texters has reached a number with 4 December 2018 being the second highest traffic day in the system has ever seen (“Crisis Trends – Crisis Text Line”, 2018).
It is good to hear that you are feeling calmer and that you have the confidence to make it through today. Remember, we are here 24/7 if you are ever in crisis again. Take care.
Crisis Trends – Crisis Text Line. (2018). Retrieved from https://crisistrends.org/
Lublin, N. (2015, May). How data from a crisis text line is saving lives
. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_lublin_the_heartbreaking_text_that_inspired_a_crisis_help_line?language=en
Suicide Statistics and Facts – SAVE. (2018). Retrieved from https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts/
The State of Mental Health in America. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america