Need mental or emotional crisis resources? Here's some.

[popecrunch]

Hi! We're all a little broken in some ways, and sometimes those breaks make it really hard to deal.  You or someone you care about might find themselves in the midst of a panic attack or at risk of self-harm.  To the best of my knowledge, none of us are licensed crisis counselors or mental / emotional health professionals, but I've taken the liberty of compiling some resources that might come in handy if you or someone you care about is experiencing a crisis.

Self-harm crisis lines:

• US/Canada: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800/273-8255 https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
  
• UK: Samaritans Hotline 116 123 https://www.samaritans.org/ (Also 212/673-3000, they WILL help people not from the UK.  Note that I have no data one way or the other about whether they handle LGBTQIA+ issues gracefully - they claim to, and I haven't heard otherwise, but.)
  
• Rest of Europe: varies, look at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/Europe/
  
• Everywhere else: http://www.suicide.org/international-sui...lines.html
  
• Text / SMS based crisis counseling - if you're in the US, text HELP to 741741. If you're in Canada, text HELP to 686868, and if you're in the UK, text HELP to 85258.  Operated by Crisis Text Line at https://www.crisistextline.org/ , and that URL will also provide text codes for some other countries as well.  Contacts are anonymized (the person you text with cannot see your phone number), and at least in the US with a Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, or AT&T phone, it won't even appear on the billing history (so if your billing details are seen by someone else, they won't even know you reached out.) Other providers, or those providers in other countries, might or might not work that way - it's the intent, but requires special handling which might or might not be possible in other countries.
  

Sexual assault specific crisis lines:

• US/Canada: RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline 800/656 4673 https://www.rainn.org/
  
• Europe: Rape Crisis Network https://www.rcne.com/contact/countries/
  

Resources for specific situations (most of these are US-centric, if you have information about similar services in other countries, please let us know through a discord report):

• Veterans of the US Military: Veterans Crisis Line (current and former) 800/273-8255 option 1
  
• Trans / NB folks: Trans Lifeline (operated by trans/NB folks, offers everything from 'i just need to talk to someone who gets it' to 'i am not in immediate crisis, but need help finding resources' to 'i am in immediate crisis'.  877/565-8860, also https://translifeline.org/.  Guaranteed available from 10am - 1am EST, staffed on a volunteer basis on off times.
  
• Domestic Violence: National Domestic Violence Hotline 800/799-7233 https://www.thehotline.org/
  
• Attracted to minors and want help so you don't hurt someone? This is a support group devoted to preventing harm to minors.  https://www.virped.org/giving-getting-help.html  As this is a topic that a lot of people, for obvious reasons, find distasteful, there isn't a lot of data out there indicating if any given support group is helpful or not - however, they do maintain what appears to be a good list of organizations willing and able to provide crisis response and care to prevent child sexual abuse and to allow someone attracted to minors to lead a full and happy life without harming minors.
  
• Another for the above, UK centric: https://get-help.stopitnow.org.uk/
  

Resources to find providers, explicitly not first-line crisis counselors:

• Need help finding a mental / behavioral health provider? Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator: 800/662-4357 or http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
  

If you have other resources, or if you know that a provider listed here is no longer operating or has become unhelpful, please send us a report in our discord server by using the /report command.

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Tips for derailing  an anxiety attack in progress:

• 54321 technique: This is a way of 'centering' yourself in the moment by focusing intently on your surroundings, and can help break the vicious spiral of an anxiety attack. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behaviora...xiety.aspx
  
• 'Calming Totem': This is what works best for me. It might or might not work well for you.  Take a picture on your phone of a person, place, or thing that you associate with only good and relaxing emotions.  When you're in the middle of a freakout, haul out your phone and stare at that picture. Imagine yourself in that environment (in the place, interacting with the thing or person, etc) and focus your thoughts on what that 'feels' like - if it's a picture of your bedroom, imagine the soft pillow on your face and the smell of your sheets.  That sort of deal.  Make a point of focussing on smells, as the sense of smell is, for some reason, most effective at making a memory seem 'real'.  The reason this works is the part of your brain that triggers a 'fight or flight' response (which is what an anxiety or panic attack is, at its root) is blind - it doesn't get information from your sensory organs directly.  Instead, it 'looks at' your waking mind.  So if you focus intently on something, that part of the brain (the amygdala, if you're curious) 'thinks' you're in that place / with that person or thing, and it might help calm you.