Crisis Resources and Safety Planning
If you are in danger right now, call 911. If you are thinking about suicide or self-harm, call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any hour of any day. This page is not a crisis service and no worksheet on this site is. It exists so the phone numbers are one click away and so you can plan, while calm, what you will do when you are not.
Numbers worth saving before you need them
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988. Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741. Trevor Project for LGBTQ+ young people: 1-866-488-7386. Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988 then press 1. SAMHSA National Helpline for substance use: 1-800-662-4357. Save them in your phone now, because searching for a number is much harder in distress than tapping one.
Why calling is hard for many autistic people, and what to do instead
Speaking on the phone under load can be genuinely impossible when speech is unavailable, and that is not a lack of motivation. Text-based options exist for exactly this reason: 988 accepts text messages, and Crisis Text Line is text-only. It also helps to write a short script in advance — your name, what is happening, what you need — so you can read it rather than compose it.
What a safety plan actually contains
A safety plan is a short written list: your early warning signs, things that help you settle on your own, people you can contact, professionals and their numbers, ways to make your environment safer, and one reason to stay. Written down and shared with one trusted person, it works far better than an intention you hold in your head.
How to use this tool
- Save 988 and 741741 in your phone contacts right now.
- Write down the two or three signs that appear before things get bad for you.
- List what has genuinely helped before, even if it seems small.
- Name one person you would contact, and ask them first whether you may.
- Write out who removes or locks away anything you could use to hurt yourself.
- Share the plan with a therapist, parent, partner or friend so you are not the only copy.
Common questions
- What number do I call in a mental health crisis in the United States?
- Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call 911 if there is immediate physical danger. Text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line if speaking is not possible.
- Can FeelingsHelper help in a crisis?
- No. FeelingsHelper is free psychoeducational self-help and cannot provide crisis care, monitoring, or emergency response. Use 988, 911, or your local emergency service.
- Is there a crisis line for autistic people specifically?
- There is no dedicated national autism crisis line in the US, but 988 accepts text and chat, which many autistic people find far more accessible than a voice call during a shutdown or meltdown.
Where this fits
This companion is free psychoeducational self-help. It is not therapy, diagnosis, or crisis care, and it does not replace a licensed clinician. Everything you enter is stored locally in your own browser and is never transmitted to a server.
It lives inside FeelingsHelper Kids & Teens Mode, alongside more than sixty other free companions for autism, ADHD, PTSD, and trauma.
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