Crisis Text Line

I texted the line having suicidal thoughts, hoping to feel better. But their answers are so canned/scripted that it's even more alienating. They'll say, "gosh, dealing with (insert situation here) sounds hard, I'm glad you reached out today," two or three times, then send you a gif of a bubble popping to help you "reduce stress," then end the conversation. It's not helping anyone. I feel bad for people who get a gif of a bubble and a canned response right before they actually take the plunge. I didn't, obviously, but I have plenty of alcohol to help me forget that awful interaction.

When I shared my extremely personal story about emotional abuse by a therapist and was at first affirmed by the Volunteer that he had read my message, the conversation quickly took a turn for the worst with him saying "How has your previous therapist cause you to be so repulsed by psychoanalytics that you can't even read it." Which to me at least, is an accusatory statement, and one with some contempt perhaps?

I saw that this had some good reviews; it saved many lives however when I logged on to it it didn't seem to favor me and I was feeling pretty desperately down. I can't understand for the life of me why I wasn't able to take the benefits many others did. In fact, after that, I felt even worse. Be careful with ANY crisis line. When feeling so down the last thing we need is no answer.

I have been feeling terrible today and yesterday, so I sent them a text (whats wrong is blocked out for privacy). They never responded the first time after a while, so I stopped it. The next day (today) I was feeling worse about the same situation, so I resent the text. Took some time to respond. I feel so lost and I have ZERO people to talk to this about. If they want to make a hotline, at least make a hotline that answers quickly. This just makes everyone feel worse.

I wanted to talk to someone because I was feeling extremely isolated. The responses left me feeling worse than I did before I contacted them. Everything was so depersonalized and generic that it didn't feel like I was talking to a real person at all. All I got were a few generic lines like "That must be hard to go through, you are brave for reaching out." It is unfortunately not a helpful service.

I understand that the hotline is NOT a substitute for therapy. But I text them often, once a week maybe once every two weeks. Every single time I text they read through my previous messages and say "well have you used those coping skills?" YES? And those obviously didn't work and that's why I am texting you. I also explain that when I text them I am at work which is why it is hard for me to do my coping skills. They just say "have you looked for a therapist, we can't help you the way you need to be helped." Seriously? All I am asking for is for you to be a little compassionate for like 10 minutes.

The supervisors and managers are horrible. They give you a format to follow, but people come with different problems and needs. They micromange everything, if you do not follow the script they will kick you off. They do not seem to care about the people just their agenda. They have no idea how to provide support. The company was called out on not addressing the racial issues and sweeping under the rug, they had to come up with an apology. Please don't text in, just know there is nothing wrong with you and practice self compassion.

I've tried several times to contact them through text and through the messanger they set up. I've laid and cried for hours and they never get back to me. Instead they harass me with "do you still need help". Before it was unless you were going to harm yourself you got shot to the back of the list but who is really going to be honest about that? Attention seekers maybe.
Never got any help
Never got to talk to a person.
What a joke. The #1 hotline everyone talks about don't jack.
I am in a lot of crisis's but this is like none before. I realize they may not have enough volunteers but then give and estimate of where you are in the queue or refer you to a different site.

Made my night worse. Only positive thing was I was connected relatively quickly. I explained what was happening and that I was on the verge of a panic attack and he completely glossed over what I was saying and told me I should check my house for intruders while I could barely stand up. Couldn't find any place to leave feedback on the specific "counselor" so I'm here. Based on the other reviews as well, this place isn't worth texting and may do more harm than good.

Completely stilted and scripted, it literally had me wondering if I was talking to a poorly programmed bot. I stopped the conversation after getting three responses in 30 minutes of zero substance. I tried prompting ChatGPT with my concerns and it gave me more helpful responses. So, quite literally, you're better off talking to an AI chatbot than what purports to be an actual human with crisis training.

I had my first experience with Crisis Text Line on Facebook Messenger about two years ago. Ever since then I have been attempting to get the attention of the board of directors and specifically Doctor Aifee Nobel.

No luck. I am glad that there is now a 988 text based crisis line available.

I agree, reading these one and two star reviews from site jabber is much more therapeutic than interfacing with a trained dumbed down human counselor.

This service does more harm than good being online without address to real focus of customer quality reviews.

Thank You.

I also have tried the interface on WhatsApp, same issues.

I was banned from the platform for trying to talk to a teenager who indicated a history of buliimia and anorexia-nervosa about the importance of discussing her eating disorders with her therapist on my first night after training.

It might be concluded that the "fine" people at CrisisTextLine seem to think eating disorders are not as deadly or as medically-serious as suicidal ideation, even though individuals with eating disorders often die after prolonged self-starvation.

Awful platform, terrible people, would not waste time on training or using. I hope their funding dries up and goes to a better organization.

I called telling them my situation trying to get help and safety but they ended up calling the police on me defending my abuser... I'M THE VICTIM, IN BEING ABUSED and they had cops come trying to arrest me for wanting to protect myself. YOU WILL DIE BEFORE GETTING SOME HELP FROM THESE PEOPLE!

I texted after many nights of not sleeping. After a while I realized that it really wasn't going to do a whole lot for me and I just wanted to stop and try to sleep. I said as much but Sean insisted that I was in a crises. He refused to listen to my pleas. I did not indicate that I'd kill myself. I did not indicate that I was suffering a medical emergency other than lack of sleep. I made it clear I wanted to get off the line and go to sleep. That's it. Sean wouldn't let it go. Then the police arrived and left because I was not in need of intervention of any kind. After which, I started talking to someone else on the live because I honestly felt really harassed and nervous about the whole thing. I wanted to lodge a complaint. Idk. I have no way of proving this but I think it's all one person. I don't think there are supervisors to actually help. I think it's just one moron giving themselves multiple names. I didn't sleep. I feel far worse now.

I tried the Crisis Text Line one evening I was disappointed with it. It seemed like the crisis counselor was working off a script and it just didn't do anything for me. I felt like I was texting to a robot and not a human being.

The crisis counselor closed the chat after I said I was thinking about committing suicide. They said to text back whenever I needed help again, but the problem is that they didn't help the first time. I was still in a terrible state when they decided to close the chat and I told them that. It shows that they really don't care.

Honestly this hotline is never really helpful. It's just a bunch of rehearsed phrases that aren't even relevant to my issues. And if I have to leave my phone for a few minutes they end the conversation. But a couple recent experiences have really irked me.

A crisis counselor was more interested in ending the conversation ASAP than helping me. She left me with resources that weren't even available when I called them and she ended the conversation when I told her I just bought 1,000,000 mg of ibuprofen and was looking for a place to take it.

I was also taken advantage of by another crisis counselor that I met in real life. And the next day our mutual friend tried to take advantage of me, too, and when I cried to him for help he outright refused to do anything about it. I reported it to the hotline and no action was taken.

Don't tolerate disrespect from rude and incompetent counselors. The person I spoke too was mean, condescending and said some outrageous things. No texter should have to put up with that. Just remembering him and the things that he said makes me want to vomit.

Be careful and hope you get assigned to a good crisis counselor! If someone is being a jerk, ask to speak to someone else and make a complaint.

Communicating with kindness and having an open mind shouldn't be that hard for crisis counselors to do.

I had two agents back to back close the text conversation after telling them that I was suicidal and thinking of ending my life within the next few minutes and the second agent had been advised at the beginning of the call that the previous agent had disconnected after informing me she did not "have" to close there conversation, asked me a question, and then promptly closed the text conversation without even waiting for a response. She was aware I was not in a safe state of being clearly indicated by the answer and then asked me something only to disconnect within five seconds and the second agent had been informed of such. I have screenshots and am considering suing the company because they should not be allowed to deal with someone suffering a mental health crisis because of obvious dire consequences likely occurring. I think anyone would be appalled if they knew there was a service like this that could be responsible for further contributing to someone ending their life but nowadays a company will do anything to make money. After this review I will be referring the better business bureau of my experience and asking them to please follow up. Shame on you whoever is responsible for this horrific attempt to scam someone out of money at any Personal cost to the individual. Absolutely despicable depraved and abhorrent behavior from a company!

I'm still waiting after 5 hours to get a response. So much for crisis text line. I have hit an all time low an the last thing it could think of let me down. Thanks $#*!s

Years ago, I left a review on a bad experience with a mean crisis counselor from this texting line. I still struggle with intrusive thoughts from the horrible things that he said. I can't believe this company let this crisis counselor do what he did. He was racist and cruel. This line doesn't know how to help BIPOC. The CEO apologized to me for his behavior, but that's not enough to make my trauma to go away. I wouldn't recommend this texting line to anyone. Some of these crisis counselors are toxic cowards hiding behind a phone. That mean crisis counselor I had wouldn't have the balls to say things to my face.

Just about each time I've called a crisis line it's been some overzealous conservative fanatic trying to get me to man up or read the Bible, these people need more help then me

If you are in a crisis, please call the actual Suicide Hotline and speak to a real person. Or go to the ER. This crisis text line is bogus. It will make things worse for you. I have used them twice, thinking I'll try again after the first horrible experience. Nope, both of them made me want to hurt myself even more. The first time, I was "on hold" for over 45 minutes while they "found someone for me". They kept telling me they were busy, but to keep waiting. I didn't keep waiting. I ended the text. The next time, I did get someone. Despite me sharing in detail what I was going through, all I got back were some generic words and a list of distractions I could do, like drink some water, and a list of (not free) apps I could download on my phone. I shared both of these experiences with a therapist, and they were concerned about this text line and they thought they were bots on the other end. Pretty unethical to play around with someone's safety, by assigning bots that advertise to help you in a crisis. Maybe it depends on your geographical location, what kind of responses you might get from this.