About THRIVE
Thriving Harnesses Respect, Inclusion, and Vested Empathy: A crisis text line staffed by people in STEMM with marginalized identities.
THRIVE Lifeline is a 501(c)(3) grassroots organization dedicated to changing the landscape of mental health support for people with intersecting marginalized identities. Among our services, we offer a free text-based crisis line. We are led by experienced crisis managers who are fed up with watching our communities fall prey to systemic marginalization only to face dismissive, unsupportive, and sometimes dangerous interactions through traditional mental health avenues. Since opening in June 2020 we have served texters in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
We take a different approach. When you text THRIVE Lifeline, you can rest assured that our goal is to create the space you need to feel heard, valued, and uplifted. YOU, not your crisis, are at the center of our conversation. As a 988 alternative, we do not engage in non-consensual active rescue and want to respect your own decisions and autonomy. For our full policies, click here.
Our Crisis Responders all have at least one marginalized identity and are rigorously trained using our proprietary curriculum, taught by and for people with intersecting marginalized identities. We hope that when you reach out to THRIVE you will talk to someone who gets it.
Who Are We?
THRIVE Lifeline is Trans-led and operated. We are a volunteer run and operated group of certified suicide interventionists whose identities are marginalized, and who are students, career professionals, and retirees largely trained across the breadth of STEMM fields
Barplot of the identities of the THRIVE Lifeline team. LGBTQ2S+ makes up 80%, people of color make up 63%, people with disabilities make up 54%, trans people make up 40%, and immigrants make up 19%.
Our backgrounds include familial rejection due to our
identities, food and housing insecurity, poverty, lack of access to
education, immigration, and more. Many of us are individuals who have
navigated accommodations processes during our academic journeys as a
result of neurodivergence, living with disabilities, and/or facing
trauma.
Mission
THRIVE Lifeline’s mission is to end stigma for people with marginalized identities and close gaps in access to crisis intervention, validation, and resources through whole-human support.
We fulfill our mission by:
- Providing texters with free 24/7/365 hotline support by trained, non-judgmental Crisis Responders who share underrepresented identities and backgrounds.
- Reducing suicide risk through literature-based deescalation practices and by connecting texters with life-saving and life-affirming resources.
- Using anonymized data to train leaders and advocate for representation in more welcoming and inclusive educational and professional spaces.
Vision
We envision academic and professional spaces that actively and equitably include everyone, removing stigma and minimizing underrepresentation.
Core Values
- Accessibility: THRIVE Lifeline remains 100% free to texters. We believe that access to life-affirming and life-saving resources is crucial.
- Connection: Often, our texters are ‘the only one’ in their families, in their departments, in their labs, in their classrooms. When a texter reaches out to THRIVE Lifeline, they are not alone.
- Inclusion: Representation matters. Being recognized at the core of who you are is the center of inclusion. Whoever you are, wherever you are from, THRIVE welcomes you.
- Integrity: We uphold the highest standards of communications, support, and confidentiality, knowing that the heart of our work involves people at their most vulnerable times.
We believe that it is together that we THRIVE.
We need your help in order to keep THRIVE Lifeline as a vital resource! You can help by volunteering, donating, and sharing.
- Volunteer: Learn more at our volunteer information page.
- Donate: Your donations of any size help to save and affirm lives. Currently we are are raising operational funds and funds to support our RECRUIT internship program.
- Share: If you or anyone that you know is in need of support, THRIVE Lifeline is providing 100% confidential, judgment-free text-based support at +1.313.662.8209
Please be advised that our text line supports individuals 18+.
If at any time you would like to stop a text-based conversation, please text STOP. Conversations are 100% confidential.
Under 18?
For general support, please reach out to Boys Town National Hotline. Despite the name, this hotline is for people of all genders.
- 24/7 call-based support:
- Text-based support:
- Text VOICE to 20121.
For LGBTQ2S+ support, please reach out to The Trevor Project.
- 24/7 call-based support:
- Text-based support:
- Text START to 678-678.