the following warning signs of suicide demand immediate attention
- Talking about wanting to die or kill oneself.
- Talking or writing about suicide or death.
- Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live.
- Talking about being a burden to others and how the world would be better off without him/her.
- Talking about being trapped or in unbearable pain.
- Complete withdrawal.
- Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge.
- Displaying extreme mood swings and acting recklessly.
- Looking for ways to kill oneself, such as searching online or obtaining access to firearms, pills, or other means to kill oneself.
- Giving away prized possessions and other personal things; tying up loose ends.
If you or someone you love exhibits any of these signs, you should immediately call 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you cannot reach someone on this line, go to an emergency room, make sure you or your loved one is not alone until professional help arrives and remove all firearms, sharp objects, drugs, alcohol and other things that could be used in a suicide attempt.
- Crisis Text Line
- Text MIND to 741741
- Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- Call 988
- Hopeline
- Call 1-800-Suicida for Spanish speakers
- Call 1-877-YOUTHLINE for teen-to-teen counseling
- The Trevor Project – LGBTQ Crisis Hotline
- Call 1-866-488-738
- I’m Alive – an Online Crisis Network Chat
- Teen Line: Teens helping teens in online chats
- Find a Therapist: Search Psychology Today to find a professional to see in your area.
- The Hope Line (faith-based): Live chat available from 2pm – 12am
- Start Your Recovery: Learn about drug and alcohol problems and options for treatment and recovery
- Detox Local: Find a drug & alcohol detox location near you & start your recovery journey safely
- National Alliance for Eating Disorders: Call 866-662-1235 9-5:30 Monday-Friday to speak with a licensed therapist specialized in eating disorders. Outside of hotline hours, check out their FindEDHelp tool to get connected to support as soon as possible.
- On Our Sleeves: Find children/teen mental health resources in your state
- General Mental Health Resources
- AAKOMA Project: works with teens and their families to raise awareness, conduct patient-centered research, and encourage young people to begin conversations about mental health in their communities, particularly serving communities of color.
- The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation (BLHF): founded by Taraji P. Henson, aims to educate, celebrate and promote mental wellness in the African American community.
- Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective: seeks to remove the barriers that Black people experience in regards to emotional health care and healing through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts.
- Black Mental Health Alliance: works to develop, promote and support clinicians and communities to offer culturally competent programs to support Black communities.
- Therapy
- Asian American/Pacific Islander Communities and Mental Health: learn more from Mental Health America about mental health in Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities
- Bullying Awareness Campaign: the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) is participating in an anti-bullying campaign and has provided resources on bullying and victimization for students, parents and school professionals
- AAPI LGBTQ+ Resources: the AAPA also provides national and regional resources for Asian American LGBTQ+ youth
- South Asian Therapists.org: to find a high quality, culturally sensitive South Asian therapist
- National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (AANHPI): lists AANHPI service provides in all fifty states
- Latin American Youth Center: DMV area organization that provides bilingual community services including job readiness, arts and recreation, health and wellness, and housing
- NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza: A bilingual 3-part video series that explores youth, family, and community mental wellness to reduce stigma in Latinx communities
- Therapy for Latinx: Find Latinx therapists in your area or for telehealth with this tool
- Recursos de Salud Mental en Español de Multicultural Mental Health Center
- Addiction Resources for Latinx/e college students
- One Sky Center: provides resources and a “find a therapist” locator for Native/Indigenous mental health providers
- We R Native: a health resource for Native youth by Native youth that covers a variety of topics including mental health, relationships and more
- Stronghearts Native Helpline: 24/7 confidential domestic & sexual violence helpline for Native Americans & Alaskan Natives
- Two Spirit and LGBTQ Health resources
- Native Hope: resources and helpful blog posts in the Health & Wellness section
- CDC LGBTQ+ Resources: provides resources for LGBTQ+ youth, friends, supporters, educators, school administrators, parents, guardians and family members.
- It Gets Better Project: online platform to share LGBTQ+ stories and to remind teens that there is hope and it will get better.
- Movies and TV shows from Common Sense media featuring LGBTQ+ teens.
- Trans Lifeline: A trans-led hotline and non-profit organization offering “direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis.”
- TrevorLifeline: The Trevor Project offers a suicide and crisis prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth that is available via phone, online chat, and text.
- True Colors United offers a four-step plan for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness to safely access housing and understand their legal rights.
- College scholarships and key resources for transgender students.
- Trevor Space: A social media network that provides a community for tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ youth looking to connect with each other and find support.
- The Importance of Gender Affirming Care for Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth
- A Guide to Resources for LGBTQ+ Students: College resources, support groups, political advocacy groups, and more
- Special Olympics’ Inclusive Health programming focuses on improving the physical and social-emotional well-being of people with intellectual disabilities by increasing inclusion in health care, wellness, and health systems for Special Olympics athletes and others with intellectual disabilities.
- Strong Minds Activity Guide from the Special Olympics’ Strong Mindfulness Program is designed to help develop coping skills in everyday life.
- Autistic Self-Advocacy Network works to empower autistic people across the world to take control of their own lives and the future of the common community, and seeks to organize the autistic community to ensure autistic voices are heard in the national conversation. “Nothing About Us, Without Us!”
- Volunteers of America contains resources for affordable housing, employment, and behavioral health services. Services, which include but are not limited to domestic violence support, addiction and substance use disorder treatment, mental health crisis counseling, and mental health housing/residential treatment are searchable by service type and location.
- Inclusive Therapists is a national directory of therapists that allows you to find a therapist based on their cultural knowledge, languages, provider’s identity, therapeutic approaches, services, specialties, practice locations, insurance, as well as a variety of other factors.
- The Arc Resources Library is a searchable resource database with a variety of resources—including toolkits, videos, articles, training, fact sheets, and litigation—for people with disabilities, family members, advocates, and various professionals.
- Family Voices is a national family-led organization of families and friends of children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities.
- Eye to Eye works to improve the educational experience and outcomes of neurodiverse young people, while engaging them and their allies in the movement for a more equitable and inclusive society.
- Partners for Youth with Disabilities aims to create a world where young people with disabilities will be able to live with dignity and pride in who they are, and to lead self-determined lives filled with purpose. They build the skills and abilities of young people with disabilities, and increase the inclusivity of workplaces, organizations, and communities.
- Mental Health Screening Tool: Mental Health America has designed a screening tool for people who are taking the first step in seeking help for their mental health & who may not have previously been treated for a mental health condition
- Body Image & Eating Disorders Resource for Learning & Finding Help
- Take It Down: This service is one step you can take to help remove online nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit photos and videos taken before you were 18. You don’t have to handle this alone and there IS hope
- Apps
- A Friend Asks: Helps provide the information, tools and resources to help a friend (or yourself) who may be struggling with thoughts of suicide.
- Headspace: Meditation made simple; they have a variety of guided and unguided lessons of all different lengths.
- notOK: Gives you the ability to get immediate support from your friends, family, or peer network.
- Podcasts
- The Happiness Lab: Laurie Santos also made her course on the science of wellbeing for free on Coursera for all to access.
- Our Turn to Talk: teens tell their own stories, raw and unfiltered, in this podcast series
- Other Mental Health Podcasts
- Movies
- Best Movies about Mental Health from NAMI
- Our Turn to Talk documentary: teens tell their own stories, raw and unfiltered, in this film
- Books
- FREE Youtube yoga videos
- COVID mental health support: up-to-date mental health resources for mental health and suicide prevention.
- Maintaining Mental Health During Coronavirus, from Seize the Awkward
- Tolerance for Uncertainty: A COVID-19 Workbook: a self-care toolkit from Bay Psychology — article from NYT,
- Intensive In-Home Behavioral Health During COVID-19: Tip Sheet: from The Institute for Innovation and Implementation
- Mental Health America for COVID-19
- NAMI for COVID-19
- The AAKOMA Project: Works to build the consciousness of Youth of Color and their caregivers on the recognition and importance of mental health, empower youth and their families to seek help, and influence systems and services to receive and address the needs of Youth of Color and their families.
- Active Minds: Changing the conversation about mental health through education for young adults.
- Born This Way Foundation: Co-founded and led by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Bissett Germanotta, supports youth mental health and works with young people to build a kinder and braver world.
- Jack.Org: Canada’s only charity training and empowering young leaders to revolutionize mental health.
- The Mental Health Coalition: a nonprofit coalition of organizations, brands, and individuals who have joined forces to end the stigma surrounding mental health.
- Mental Health Literacy: This website provides in-depth info about mental illness for teens. Check out their Youtube videos and social media pages.
- Self Care Station: apparel website to spread self-care love and normalize mental illness and speaking about mental health, partners with mental organizations to raise awareness and talk about the stigma.
- To Write Love on Her Arms: A non-profit whose mission is to “present hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide.”