Who We Are

Crisis Text Line is a not-for-profit providing free crisis counseling via text, 24/7. Text CRISIS to 741741 to text with a trained Crisis Counselor. With over 129 million messages processed to date, we’re growing quickly. And so is the need.

Large. In the six years since Crisis Text Line launched the first national texting service for people in crisis, we have processed 129 million messages about the underlying causes—depression, anxiety, relationship issues—that can lead to tragic outcomes. This makes us one of the largest hotlines in America.

Best practice. Our vetted and trained Crisis Counselors work to move each texter from a hot moment to a cool calm. During these text conversations, Crisis Counselors are supported by our algorithms and work closely with Supervisors to deploy evidence-based best practices like active listening, collaborative problem-solving, and risk assessment techniques.

Private. Texting is a private, silent medium—not surprisingly, 68% of texters share something with us that they have never shared with another human being. And because they are sharing in a private silent mode and opening up for the first time, the issues they share are often very dark, personal, and urgent.

High risk. Sometimes conversations are high risk for loss of life. In 28% of conversations, a texter mentions suicidal ideation. And 2-3 times each week, a texter mentions homicidal ideation—most often a school shooting or partner murder. When a texter shares suicidal or homicidal thoughts, we risk assess to determine if they have a plan, method, and a timeframe to complete this threat to life. Most of the time, we’re able to guide the texter through the creation of a plan to stay safe. However, in just under 1% of conversations, we cannot de-escalate or the person has already started an attempt. In these cases, we need to call emergency services to perform an active rescue. In just over six years, we have made 30,569 calls to 911.

Data rich. Since day one, we knew it was important to listen to the needs of Americans and constantly improve our service based on their feedback. So, we collect, store, and analyze the data in real-time. Because we handle a plethora of issues— suicide, depression, sexual violence, substance abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, finances, and more— our data corpus has unique volume, velocity, and variety. It tells us who is texting (53% under age 17), race (30% are people of color), and sexual orientation (44% identify as LGBTQ), where they are texting from (we over-index in rural areas), the time of day they need help (late night), etc. We leverage the data to support academic research, policy, and public health.