Crisis Text LineReviews of crisistextline.org

slow response, no real help

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.

Rang in tears. She asked me a bunch of stupid questions. Promised a nurse ring me back in foyr hours. No one rang.

Spent waiting 3 hours for support that never came. Total garbage. Dont enter if you need help, you won't get it here. Ever.

The few times I've tried to reach out to the crisis line over the last seven years, I have had nothing but terrible experiences. I really thought nothing would top the time a volunteer called me dramatic and left the chat when I was literally having a paranoid schizophrenic breakdown four years ago, but I really think this morning took the cake. Now I'm not an AI bro, but I'm pretty sure I was not talking to a real human. And if I was, then they're really not doing a great job in training their volunteers still. No warmth. Absolutely no personality behind the unsympathetic tone of the words I was reading. "Do you have anyone safe you can talk to about this?" "I've stated multiple times already that I do not." "That's rough. Everyone needs someone to talk to." Wow! I really didn't know that! And the whole time it was "You're taking a while to respond. If the chat times out, I wouldn't want you to feel abandoned." Only to, at the "end" of our conversation (there was no indication that it was ending soon) send me an unhelpful link for the exact therapist in my town that I told her I refuse to see for past malpractice I experienced, and mind you I SAID THE THERAPISTS NAME AND OFFICE NAME BEFORE SHE SENT THE LINK, and then unprompted send a message along the lines of "Well that all sounds rough, but don't worry tomorrow will be better!" and completely end the chat. When I tell you that sent me spiraling even worse than I was before I even sent my first message to the line this morning, that's probably an understatement. And that is exactly how I have felt every. single. time. I have had the displeasure of being forced to use the crisis line. Abhorrent. I wouldn't be surprised if more people have ended their lives after using the crisis line than not.

Every call is the same. First you will be asked what’s wrong. You will then upon being given a counselor asked the same thing back to back. If you say you are suicidal, they won’t do a single thing about it. They will also ask you again if you are suicidal when you already said you were. Every single conversation they will ask if you have any friends and family to call. If you did, you probably wouldn’t have called. They will then ask you what you did in the past that helps, tell you to do that, and hang up. EVERY. SINGLE. CALL. They will occasionally send you remarkably unhelpful and even insulting links. Many involve being off topic to your call, and others are coping technique sheets that involve such ingenious activities as walking the dog, lighting a candle, and chewing gum. I would also like to point out I was put on hold for an incredible amount of time when I made an attempt. Your four year old nephew is more insiteful, and may even make you chuckle. I have not a clue what these buffoons think they do to help. I often end up I listened to and more suicidal.

Rang crisis line UK. Its just as bad as USA. Lady not interested in giving me advice. Just interested in doing you in to third parties. Has no empathy. Is mentally ill herself. As most mental health staff are. And in any case mental health is a views and othodoxy are a load of misfounded rubbish.