page_title: Crisis hotline
section_title: Telephone counseling
hierarchical_section_title: Crisis hotline / Telephone counseling
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Minds Självmordslinje är Sveriges enda suicidpreventiva stödlinje som är öppen dygnet runt, via chatt och telefon.
context_page_description: A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1953 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in other circumstances, including rape, bullying, runaway children, human trafficking, and people who identify as LGBT or intersex. Despite crisis hotlines being common, their effectiveness in reducing suicides is unclear.
context_section_description: Telephone counseling and crisis hotlines provide a similar telephone support service, and both usually accept crisis and non-crisis calls. In the United States, many college campuses have established telephone counseling lines serviced by student volunteers to compensate for the high demand placed on college mental health services. These hotlines serve callers in crisis, but also serve to provide a listening ear for people who "just need to talk." Typically, hotlines are staffed by volunteers, and are not intended to replace professional, long-term counseling services. They are rather intended to carry callers through an immediate situation. Such hotlines exist at the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota,  Tufts University, Columbia University, Cornell University,  Drexel University, Caldwell University, and Texas A&M University.
  The term "emotional support helpline" is sometimes used – which does not imply crisis or counseling, and can include email and text messaging. Such services have allowed for the wider dissemination of resources for people facing mental health crises.
  With developments in mobile telephony, the use of text or SMS (short message service) has been utilized by counseling services. Youthline, a youth-oriented crisis helpline in New Zealand, began providing a text messaging counseling support line in 2004.
caption: An operator for Sweden's Mind Självmordslinjen (suicide prevention hotline) at work.
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