The Crisis Text Line

A resource for those who hate phone calls.

I wrote this for World Suicide Prevention Day, which conveniently falls in September, National Suicide Prevention Month.

There's nothing else convenient about suicide, including figuring out how to talk about it.

Even just admitting to harboring some passing suicidal thoughts can feel shameful and overwhelming.

And so suicide thrives in silence.

If you think you don't know anyone who has wrestled with ending their own life, I promise you that you have. And not in the abstract, rhetorical sense either.

The current conditions - pandemic isolation, political unrest, the increasingly hard to ignore fires and hurricanes and other warning signs of climate disaster… Well, the rate of completed suicides is up. The rate of attempts is up. The rate of psychiatric crises and hospital visits are up. A huge number of people are experiencing extremely distressing symptoms.

If you are not one of them - Can you check on a friend that has seemed extra withdrawn? Or perhaps angry? Or gave you something valuable to hold onto "just in case"?

If they need a resource and you can't provide it - 741741. The crisis text line. Trained crisis counselors, 24/7. (USA)

If you ARE experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis - 741741. The crisis text line. Trained crisis counselors, 24/7.

It's scary. I know.
It's shameful. No, it's not.
They're not gonna judge. They're not gonna call the cops if you just need an ear.

You'll talk (well, text… not sure about you but I'm not a phone call person when depressed) and they're trained to actively (read: actually) listen.

Please. Try it.

I find your life more convenient than death. I promise. And not in the abstract, rhetorical sense either.