Crisis Text Line volunteers help people in crisis with a free, anonymous and confidential text message. People of all ages can text “HOME” or “HOPE” to 741-741.
Building a sense of community is part of the DNA at Crisis Text Line. But until recently, the organization did not have a dedicated team for managing community engagement.
Volunteering
Becoming a Crisis Text Line volunteer is a way to gain community service hours and build your resume. This nonprofit organization offers a free 24/7 texting and chat resource to people in distress. Volunteers are trained to de-escalate and support texters in their time of need. They are also trained to help the texters connect with local resources to meet their needs.
Volunteers must consent to a background check before they can start volunteering. This helps the organization ensure that they don’t have a history that could prevent them from helping others in crisis.
To protect sensitive information, the organization requires all employees and volunteers to use Okta Authentication, Okta Authorization, and Okta User Management. This provides secure access to all of the applications that the Crisis Text Line uses. This includes third-party cloud applications and custom-built solutions that are hosted in the Okta Identity Platform. It also supports multi-factor authentication (MFA) to provide an additional layer of security.
Training
After completing training, Crisis Text Line volunteer counselors work 2 2-hour shifts each week on their own schedule. They can also sign up for additional shifts if they want to help more people. However, they must pay attention to their personal mental health as they might get overwhelmed if they volunteer for too long.
The volunteer training covers topics such as suicide prevention, active listening, and empathy. It also teaches volunteers about how to identify and respond to different types of crises. It is also important to understand the cultural context of the people who use the service.
The organization uses a texting platform that allows volunteers to work from anywhere in the world at any time of day or night. It is also easy to set up a free, anonymous texting conversation with a trained Crisis Counselor. To do so, text “Got5” to 741741. Then, you will receive two automated responses that let you know you are being connected with a volunteer counselor who can help you.
Working with people
When someone texts REACH to 741741, they’re connected with a trained Crisis Counselor within minutes. They’re then able to help the texter de-escalate their situation, create a safety plan and connect them to services in their area. The service also works with the texter to ensure they’re not in danger of hurting themselves or others and to alert emergency services when necessary.
One of the keys to Crisis Text Line’s success is its dedicated volunteers. Katelyn Gillum, the Director of Community, cultivates a sense of community and support for volunteers so that they can stay involved in the long run.
To reach out to the service on Facebook, people can message the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or the Crisis Text Line. They won’t have access to your profile or any identifying information, so they can only communicate with you about what’s going on in your life. They’ll ask you to describe your situation in detail, listen and respond.
Community
Crisis Text Line has a community of over 20,000 volunteers across the country and abroad who each dedicate one four-hour shift per week to help people in need. Each day, the counselors answer texts from people dealing with abusive relationships, depression, thoughts of suicide and other challenges. They also use their one of the world’s largest health data sets to continually improve service.
The nonprofit organization launched in 2013. Within four months, they had received texts from every area code in the US and became the nation’s first and largest text-based crisis intervention service.
As a volunteer-driven organization, the team at Crisis Text Line has worked hard to make sure their platform is reliable. They’ve partnered with Okta to ensure that their selfless volunteers have seamless, secure access to the applications they need. Using Okta Authentication and Okta Identity Solutions, they’ve enabled single sign-on for the majority of their apps and required MFA for all users to protect sensitive information.