When you're in a mental health crisis or thinking about suicide

Reach a person right now. You can call or text any of these, and you do not have to be in danger to use them.

• Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860. Run by and for trans people. This matters if you worry about police being sent, because Trans Lifeline does not contact emergency services without your consent.
• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988. Free, 24/7. In Oregon this is answered by Lines for Life. Be aware that 988 can, in rare cases, involve emergency responders, which is why some trans folks prefer Trans Lifeline first.
• The Trevor Project: 866-488-7386, or text START to 678-678. For LGBTQ+ young people, 24/7.

If you have already taken steps to harm yourself, or you are not safe this minute, call 911 and, if you can, ask for a crisis or mental health response (see the "send help that is not the police" step below).

🏳️‍⚧️ Saying the words out loud, even just to a stranger on a line, is not weak. It is one of the bravest and most practical things you can do.

Not every hard moment is a 911 emergency. Sometimes you need a calm, judgment-free person to talk to before things escalate. That is what a warmline is for.

• David Romprey Oregon Warmline: 800-698-2392. Free, confidential peer support staffed by people who have their own lived experience with mental health struggles. No crisis required. Call just to be heard.

A warmline is a good first call on a heavy night, or when you feel yourself sliding and want to catch it early.

If someone needs to come to you, you can often get a mental health team instead of, or alongside, police.

• Multnomah County Behavioral Health Crisis Line: 503-988-4888 (toll-free 800-716-9769). 24/7. They can talk you through it and dispatch a mobile crisis team.
• Cascadia Project Respond is Multnomah County's mobile crisis team, sent through the crisis line above, to meet you in the community.
• Portland Street Response sends medics and mental health workers for non-emergencies on the street. Call 911 and ask for them by name.

Washington and Clackamas Counties have their own 24/7 crisis lines too. Call 988 or 211 and ask for your county's mobile crisis team.

A hospital is not the only option, and for many trans people it is not the safest-feeling one. Peer respites are short-term, home-like places where you can stabilize with support from people who have been there, while staying in charge of your own care.

• FolkTime Peer Respite in Portland offers up to two weeks of 24-hour peer support in a home-like setting. It is non-clinical and voluntary, for people in a self-defined crisis, and you can keep working and living your life while you are there.
• Cascadia Crisis Respite provides short-term stabilization with meals, medication support, and safety planning. It requires Oregon Health Plan coverage through Health Share (CareOregon) or Trillium.

Call ahead to ask about a bed and what you need to bring. These fill up, so it is worth asking early even if you are only starting to feel shaky.

If you need in-person psychiatric help now but not a full hospital, there is a middle option.

• Unity Center for Behavioral Health in Portland is a walk-in psychiatric emergency center, an alternative to a general ER for a mental health crisis. It is open 24/7 for adults and youth.

If you go, you can bring a trusted friend, and you can state your name, pronouns, and any medications (including HRT) up front. You have the right to be addressed correctly and to have your medications continued.

Getting through the crisis is the hard part, and staying steady afterward deserves support too.

• Oregon YouthLine: call 877-968-8491, text teen2teen to 839863. Teen-to-teen support, 4pm to 10pm daily (adults answer other hours).
• If your crisis followed a hospital stay, the Getting support after a psychiatric hospital stay path covers what comes next.
• If substances are part of what is going on, Finding support for substance use can help without judgment.
• To build steady, ongoing community, the Finding your trans community in Oregon path connects you to peer support and belonging.

Crisis is not your baseline, even when it feels endless. The goal now is one steadier day, then another.