Crisis Support & Helplines

If You Need Help Right Now

In the United States, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, staffed by trained crisis counselors. You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach Crisis Text Line.

If you or someone else is in immediate, life-threatening danger, call 911 (or your local emergency number) or go to the nearest emergency room without delay.

Outside the United States? Find a helpline near you at findahelpline.com, or browse the international crisis-centre directory from the International Association for Suicide Prevention at iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres. A fuller list of numbers is on our crisis resources page.

This page is for information and education only and is not a substitute for emergency services or professional care. If there is any immediate risk to life, contact emergency services straight away.

You Are Not Alone

Crisis support means immediate, short-term help for someone whose distress has become overwhelming: a phone or text conversation with a trained counselor, a visit from a mobile crisis team, or a safe place to stay for a short time. A mental health crisis can take many forms. It might be thoughts of suicide or self-harm, a panic attack that feels unbearable, the aftermath of trauma, or a moment when the pain simply becomes too heavy to carry.

Whatever brought you here, please know this: crises pass, intense emotions ease with time and support, and asking for help is one of the bravest and most caring things a person can do, for themselves or for someone they love. You do not need to be certain you are "in crisis enough" to reach out. If you are hurting, that is reason enough.

If you are worried about a friend, partner, child or colleague, your concern matters too. Many people who survive a crisis say that one person who noticed, asked, and stayed with them made all the difference.

What Is a Mental Health Crisis?

Psychologists have studied crises since the 1940s and 1960s, when Erich Lindemann's work with grieving survivors of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire and Gerald Caplan's crisis theory described how people can be pushed beyond their usual coping resources by a sudden or overwhelming event. A key idea from that work still guides crisis services today: a crisis is a temporary state of disequilibrium, not a permanent condition, and well-timed support can help a person regain balance.

Crises can be triggered by many things, including relationship breakdown, bereavement, job loss, financial pressure, violence, trauma, or a worsening of an existing mental health condition. Sometimes there is no obvious trigger at all. Common features include feeling overwhelmed and unable to think clearly, intense emotions such as despair, fear or anger, and difficulty managing everyday tasks.

Emergency & Immediate Help

Different services fit different levels of urgency. Knowing the options ahead of time can make it easier to act quickly.

US guidelines for crisis care, published by SAMHSA in 2020, describe the ideal system in three parts: someone to talk to (a crisis line), someone to respond (mobile crisis teams) and somewhere to go (crisis receiving and stabilization centers). These services are expanding but are not yet available everywhere. Our free mental health resources page lists more no-cost options.

Suicide Prevention & Safety

Suicide is preventable, and most people who have thoughts of suicide do not act on them, especially when they get support. Talking about it openly is a protective step, not a dangerous one: research reviews have found that asking someone about suicide does not increase their risk.

Two evidence-informed ideas run through modern suicide prevention:

• Connection. Studies of crisis line callers, including a 2007 evaluation of US crisis centers by Madelyn Gould and colleagues, found that many suicidal callers reported feeling less distressed and less suicidal by the end of the call, and that follow-up contact was valued.
• Safety planning. A written safety plan, such as the Safety Planning Intervention developed by Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown, lists personal warning signs, coping strategies, people to contact and professional services, and steps to make the environment safer. It is usually made together with a clinician.

If you are having thoughts of suicide right now, please contact 988 or your local crisis line. You deserve support.

Supporting Someone in Crisis

You do not need special training to help someone through a difficult moment. Useful steps include:

1. Stay calm and present. A steady voice and patient attention can be reassuring.
2. Ask directly how they are and, if you're worried, whether they are thinking about suicide.
3. Listen more than you talk. Reflect back what you hear rather than rushing to solutions.
4. Keep them safe. If risk is immediate, don't leave them alone and reduce access to anything that could be used for harm.
5. Help them connect. Offer to call or text 988 together, or to contact their doctor or therapist.
6. Follow up in the days afterward.

Helping someone in crisis can be draining. Talk to someone yourself afterward, and remember you are not expected to carry it alone. Our guides on how to support someone with mental health issues and psychological first aid go into more detail.

Coping in the Moment

When emotions surge, simple skills can help you ride out the wave until it passes. These techniques are general wellbeing practices, not a replacement for crisis support, but they can steady you alongside it:

• Grounding: name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch. See grounding techniques.
• Slow breathing: breathing out more slowly than you breathe in can calm the body's alarm response. See breathing exercises.
• Changing temperature or moving: cool water on the face or brisk movement can shift intense arousal, an idea used in the DBT TIPP skill.
• Getting through the next hour, not the next year: focus on the smallest next step.

Broader coping skills can be built up over time, ideally with a therapist's support if difficulties keep returning.

Trauma & Acute Distress

Crises are often tied to trauma, whether recent or long past. After a frightening event, it is common to have intrusive memories, trouble sleeping, feeling numb, or being constantly on alert. For many people these reactions ease over the following weeks. When they persist or are severe, they may be assessed as acute stress disorder or, after a month or more, post-traumatic stress disorder, both of which have effective, evidence-based treatments.

Early support after trauma emphasizes safety, calm, connection and practical help, rather than pushing people to recount events in detail. Our page on trauma and PTSD explains common reactions and the paths toward recovery, and flashbacks covers one of the most distressing symptoms.

Finding Ongoing Support

Once the immediate danger has passed, ongoing care helps prevent future crises and supports lasting recovery. The period right after a crisis, including after an emergency department visit or hospital stay, is a time when follow-up matters most, so try to arrange an appointment quickly.

• Start with a primary care doctor, a therapist, or a local community mental health center.
• Learn about the different types of mental health professionals and how to find the right therapist.
• Consider online therapy if access is difficult.
• Look for support tailored to your community, such as resources for veterans, teens, or LGBTQ+ people.

Reaching Out Is a Sign of Strength

No crisis lasts forever, and no one has to face the hardest moments alone. If you are in the United States, call or text 988 any time. Wherever you are, support is closer than it may feel right now.