If you need help now
You can get help right now.
We're not a crisis service, but the lines below are. They're free, they're confidential, and they're open when we're not.
If you're in immediate danger, call your local emergency number — 911 in Canada and the US, 999 in the UK and Ireland, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand, 112 across the EU. If you can, say that it's a mental health emergency and ask for a crisis-trained responder.
Canada
- 988 — Suicide Crisis Helpline. Call or text 988. Free, confidential, 24/7, English and French.
- Kids Help Phone. 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868. For anyone under 30.
- Hope for Wellness Helpline. 1-855-242-3310. Culturally grounded support for Indigenous peoples, with counsellors available in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut on request.
- Trans Lifeline. 1-877-330-6366. Peer support run by and for trans people.
United States
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988, 24/7.
- Crisis Text Line. Text HOME to 741741.
- The Trevor Project. 1-866-488-7386, for LGBTQ young people.
United Kingdom & Ireland
- Samaritans. 116 123, free from any phone, 24/7, in the UK and Ireland.
- Shout. Text SHOUT to 85258 (UK), 24/7.
- Pieta. 1800 247 247 (Ireland), 24/7.
Australia & New Zealand
- Lifeline Australia. 13 11 14, 24/7. Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.
- Lifeline Aotearoa. 0800 543 354, or free text 4357, 24/7.
Everywhere else
The International Association for Suicide Prevention maintains a directory of crisis centres worldwide at iasp.info. Befrienders Worldwide lists helplines by country at befrienders.org.
If a spiritual opening has become destabilising
A sudden mystical experience, a kundalini activation or a difficult ceremony can tip into genuine crisis, with sleeplessness, terror and an inability to manage ordinary life. If you're not safe, use the lines above first. They'll help you whether or not they understand how you'd describe it. Once you're steadier, integration work is one of the things this practice exists for.
If you're supporting someone else
You can call any of these lines about someone else. You don't need their permission to ask for advice on how to help them, and you're allowed to be worried without being sure.
Stay with them if you can. Ask them directly whether they're thinking about suicide, using the actual word rather than talking around it. The evidence on this is clear: asking doesn't put the idea in someone's head, and it very often opens a door. Then help them make the call rather than telling them to make it.