If someone might be checking this device — the button above will take you to a weather page immediately and the Esc key does the same. It will not clear your history. If that matters, use a browser you don’t normally use, or a friend’s phone, or a library computer.
If you need someone now.
You do not have to be in danger to use any of this.
In immediate danger
Right now, tonight, someone could be hurt
911In the US. Elsewhere, your local emergency number.
If you are thinking of ending your life
Or hurting yourself, or you cannot see a way through
988Call it, or text it, or chat at 988lifeline.org.
Free, confidential, twenty-four hours. Press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line. Press 2, or text AYUDA, for Spanish.
If someone is hurting you
A partner, an ex, a family member — physically or otherwise
1-800-799-7233Or text START to 88788. Or chat at thehotline.org.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Free, confidential, twenty-four hours, in over 200 languages. TTY 1-800-787-3224. For Native and Alaska Native callers, StrongHearts is 1-844-762-8483.
It does not have to have been physical. Controlling money, watching your phone, isolating you from people, threatening — they take all of it seriously and you do not have to be planning to leave to call.
If someone won’t stop contacting, following, or messaging you
A coworker, a stranger, an ex, someone online — not necessarily someone you live with
1-855-484-2846Or text the same number, or chat at victimconnect.org.
VictimConnect Resource Center, run by the National Center for Victims of Crime. Free and confidential, and it covers stalking and harassment specifically — weekdays, 9am–5pm ET. It is not a 24-hour line; if anything is happening right now, use 911 or 988 first.
If you or someone else may be overdosing
Right now — don’t wait to see if they wake up
911Call 911. Naloxone (Narcan) is available without a prescription at most US pharmacies. CDC’s overdose-response guidance covers exactly what to do and when.
If you’re using, trying to stop, or looking for treatment
For yourself, or to understand what your options even are
1-800-662-4357Call or text. Or find a program near you at findtreatment.gov.
SAMHSA’s National Helpline. Free, confidential, twenty-four hours, English and Spanish. It’s a treatment-referral line, not crisis counseling — they help you find what’s next, not talk you through tonight. For that, 988 above is the one.
If someone you love is using
A partner, a parent, a child, a sibling, a close friend
1-888-425-2666Al-Anon, for alcohol specifically. For other drugs, Nar-Anon: 1-800-477-6291.
Both are free, ongoing peer support built for people who love someone using — not for the person using. No membership, no cost, meetings almost everywhere including online.
If you have been sexually assaulted or abused
Recently, or a long time ago — both count
1-800-656-4673Or text HOPE to 64673. Or chat at rainn.org/hotline.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline, run by RAINN. Free, confidential, twenty-four hours, and it routes you to a trained person near you. There is no time limit on when it happened.
If a child is being hurt
Yours, or one you are worried about
1-800-422-4453The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline. Twenty-four hours and you can call to ask whether something you have seen is worth reporting. You do not need to be certain.
Anywhere outside the United States
Verified crisis lines in more than 175 countries. The helplines keep their own entries current and the list is checked daily, which is why we send you there rather than print a number that may have changed.
What to say, if you don’t know how to start.
You do not have to be eloquent and you do not have to have worked out what is wrong. Any of these is enough:
“I’m not okay and I didn’t want to say it out loud.”
“I’m struggling and I didn’t know who else to tell.”
“I don’t really know why I’m calling.”
That last one is a completely normal way to open. They have heard it thousands of times and it is not a waste of anyone’s evening.
Or tell one person who is awake.
A partner. A friend. A sibling. A neighbor. Your doctor. Whoever is easiest.
If it is easier to write it than say it, write it. If it is easier to say it in the dark, or in a car, or on a walk where nobody has to look at anyone, do that. The form of it does not matter. Only that somebody else knows.
If it is not you.
If you are worried about someone, you are allowed to ask directly. “Are you thinking about hurting yourself?” Asking does not plant the idea. A 2018 meta-analysis pooling eighteen studies found no increase in risk from being asked — if anything, a small reduction — and the Mayo Clinic lists the opposite belief among the common myths about suicide. Being asked is very often a relief.
If you think someone is being abused, the same applies, with one difference: do not push them to leave. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is direct about this — leaving is frequently the most dangerous period for someone in an abusive relationship, because it is the moment an abuser loses control. They know their situation better than you do and pressure tends to close the door.
Tell them the number is there whenever they want it. Safety planning exists and is what the helpline is for. Keep answering the phone.
Some things that are true.
- This is a state, not a fact.It is telling you that things will always feel like this. That is what the state does. It is not evidence.
- You do not have to feel better to be helped.Nobody expects you to arrive improved.
- It does not have to be bad enough.There is no threshold you have to clear before you are allowed to call.
- Whatever it is, someone has been here before.Including the parts you think are too shameful to say. Especially those.
- You do not have to explain it well.Or at all. You can call and say almost nothing.
You went looking for something. That was not nothing — that was you reaching. Reaching for a person is the same motion, only a little further.
This page is not a crisis service and nobody here can see that you are reading it. The numbers above are staffed by people who chose to be there tonight. Numbers last checked 22 July 2026. Nothing on this site is medical or legal advice.