Elisheva Adler was 20 years old, sitting in pajamas in her childhood bedroom in Long Island, the first time she saved someone's life via text message.
Adler had just started volunteering as a counselor for Crisis Text Line. The 4-year-old nonprofit provides free crisis intervention through a medium that is increasingly favored by young people: texts. Using the code 741741, counselors have exchanged more than 50 million messages with people who are facing issues from stress at school to self-harm. Out of those exchanges have come thousands of "active rescues" where first responders are called to a scene.
Adler heard about Crisis Text Line when she watched a TED talk by founder Nancy Lublin. Lublin had been running a text-based volunteer organization for teens, called DoSomething. One day, Lublin tells NPR, the platform got a text that read, "'he won't stop raping me. It's my dad. He told me not to tell anyone. r u there?' "
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that suicide rates for teen girls, specifically, in the U.S. are at a 40-year high. Crisis Text Line is especially well targeted to this group. Seven out of 10 texters are women, and 75 percent are under age 25. They also skew rural, LGBT and low-income. Lublin says people often hear about them through viral posts on social media. If you search the hashtag #741741 you will see posts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook spreading the word.
To read more of Anya Kamenetz' article, please click here.
Places to Find Help
Crisis Text Line refers many texters to dozens of other organizations, depending on the issue they are struggling with. Here are some examples; the full list is here.
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