Hi Elessir,

First of all, thank you so much for reaching out on behalf of your friend; it really shows that you care about her safety and emotions. We would not yell at someone who reached out to us for support, but even so, I can totally understand how nerve-wracking it can be to make contact here, not knowing what it might be like, or who is behind the screen. Please let your friend know that she would be welcomed with empathy and compassion.

To explain a little more about how our services work: the online chat is open from 6-11pm PST (so check your time zone) and allows you to chat live with a volunteer trained in empathetic emotional support. For that, you can chat in at the top of this website. The email counselling allows you to connect with a certified counsellor, and is great for ongoing conversations, but it can take about 5 business days for a response. She could also post here on the forum, and we will respond, as we did to you, within a couple of days.

And to answer your other question: our services are accessible to youth under 30 anywhere in North America, so assuming your friend is within that area, she should be able to connect in chat, email, or forum (and actually, the forum is accessible from anywhere in the world). Please let us know if something doesn’t seem to be working.

I hope that reassures her somewhat. I can imagine that she has been through a lot of fear and loneliness in trying to find places to reach out. I’m very glad that she has you to help. If she is in crisis, and needs to talk to someone when we are not open, please know that she can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (for the USA) at 1-800-273-8255, or the Kids Help Phone (in Canada) at 1-800-668-6868.

The Support Team