First you will hear an automated message offering specialized support for veterans (press 1), Spanish speakers (press 2), and LGBTQ+ youth (press 3). Soon, your call will be routed to your local lifeline network crisis center. A trained call specialist will answer the phone to listen and understand your experience, provide support or safety planning, and link you to helpful resources in your community.

Whether you dial 2-1-1 or 9-8-8, you can talk about anything that is on your mind. People call or text/chat to talk about substance use, financial difficulties, relationships, sexual identity, abuse, depression, mental or physical illness, and loneliness, to name a few.

Whether 2-1-1 or 9-8-8 appear on your phone bill will depend on your phone carrier. Please contact your phone carrier to ask how 1-800 and short-code numbers appear on your bill.

Phone numbers with a 701 or 218 area code will initially be directed to FirstLink. If our call specialists are already on a crisis call, your phone call will be redirected to a backup 9-8-8 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline network center.

The goal of each call is to provide telephone support and collaborate on a plan to keep you safe. It is very rare for a call specialist to contact police. At times, our call specialists must break confidentiality to keep someone safe, however this happens infrequently. If you cannot stay safe, the call specialist will share all options with you, beginning with the least-invasive intervention.

Anytime you are facing a challenge and need someone to lean on for emotional support, you should dial 9-8-8. The 9-8-8 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available to anyone during any crisis or distressing event.

Absolutely! In fact, we encourage you to practice dialing 2-1-1 or 9-8-8 to try out these services. You can simply tell the call specialist that answers that you wanted to have a test call so you know what to expect. You can call with a friend, family member, client, neighbor, or colleague to encourage them to use the service as well.

Yes. When you dial 9-8-8, you will hear a prompt to press #2 for the Spanish-speaking line. We also provide telephone interpreter services to anyone who reaches FirstLink by dialing 2-1-1 or 9-8-8. With this service, we are able to support individuals who speak over 150 languages.

It is typical for a call seeking resources to last about 5 or 10 minutes. However, whether you are seeking resources or crisis intervention, we can provide listening and support or safety planning for as long as you need. The goal is to help you feel supported and safe.