Crisis Text LineReviews of crisistextline.org

This was an absolute amazing experience! I met a wonderful lady name Rina and she helped me so much! (Aliah, Rina if you see this, know I won’t ever forget you!!^_^)

I enjoyed working for the Crisis Text Line very much. It was very helpful in preparation for my therapy work with clients and as a way to focus on others to provide support.

I am seriously surprised at the 1.7 average. This group is absolutely amazing and helpful. Many of the volunteers are either already a certified therapist or they are in school to become a therapist psychologist something in that category. People don’t realize how many calls/ texts they receive and how many people they have actually helped. It’s well over the millions. I have done the research and I have done the comparisons. The bottom line is somebody has actually reached rock bottom and they really need an interaction to help remove themselves from a current crisis, and sometimes that crisis is extremely severe riding on the edge of suicide. There are multiple levels of supervision on the line and view conversations live. When you don’t have a friend to turn to or you do, but they’re too judgmental and likewise with family members maybe you don’t have family or you do and their too judgmental this is an excellent resource. Their training is comprehensive and although 30 hours many of that is spent on role-play which critically helped the success of interacting with the community of people that are texting in. I feel they are compassionate and detailed on how to approach many of types messages they receive.

slow response, no real help

It’s a script. Every once in a blue moon I will get a reasonable person who will allow me to talk through my problem. Otherwise, you will first spend 20 min or so telling the “counselor” whether you are a harm to yourself due to five minutes pauses between all responses. Next, you will be asked what has helped you in the past. If you knew this you wouldn’t have to call, right? This is followed by breathing or 54321 (which everyone already knows) and possibly someone creating a safety plan, which just consists of things to do that you already mentioned and likely knew already and people to call. Totally useless. If you are lucky enough, you will be given a list of the most tripe things to do to calm yourself, like going for a walk or taking a bubble bath. That’s it. If they think you might be a risk, they may offer to call back in a few days. This will occur during the times you say NOT to call, and will occur daily, annoying the crap out of you and being a real nuisance.

Sometimes reading the reviews is more helpful. It takes way too long and it's not really clear on what crisis means and every single time you get a different experience and some are more rigid than others. I've had people leave the chat. It doesn't help that there's no transparency. But it's free so there's that but if you are able to get someone good they just listen and you don't really get all that much help

I can't even say enough of how horribly this line is handled. I have screenshots of the robotic text"conversation" that has gone back and forth since a bit after midnight. The crisis wasn't for me but I was seeking help for someone else. I'm currently STILL waiting in line for a counselor and it's been over 3 hours, now moving closer to 4. No one should ever endure this while trying to seek help. I'm sitting outside my friends door and it's after 3:40am but I don't want to leave him feeling abandoned so until he can respond to me verbally, I'm camped out here. I'm hoping that things improve soon because it's cold out here and I'm physically sick. In my opinion, please do yourself a favor and DO NOT CALL/TEXT this center of you need immediate help. You'd have a better chance of talking to anyone else. I think I'm just going to end the wait for the "counselor" and try to talk to him again. Maybe he can communicate with me now. I hope that someone of authority reads these reviews because something definitely needs to change on how this "crisis hotline" is being handled.

I am reviewing the organization as a potential volunteer. They helped me when I needed it and I wanted to give back by volunteering. I filled out their application, forgot all about it, and two months later received the most bizarre rejection letter. They could not "offer" me training at this time, and cannot divulge the reasons. Seriously? I volunteered my time for free. I am the one who was offering. Next time try "Thank you for your generous offer to volunteer, but we are short of openings in our training program at this time." They said I could reapply in six months but why would I? It is their loss and it is not like they are going to pay me for the inconvenience. I only bring it up because it tells me something about the culture of the organization. Not very humble considering its stated mission.