Crisis Text Line was built from the ground up around technology and data with the goal of helping people thrive.
We’ve collected one of the largest health data sets in the world. It’s the only real-time data set of this size in the United States. And it is incredibly diverse–recognizing voices of various genders, ages, races, and ethnicities, etc. Hooray for equitable representation in data sets! (This matters to us. It should matter to everyone!)
Our top goal is to support people in crisis. Everything we do with data drives this goal. We want to put more empathy in the world to help people live their best lives. To achieve this, we use data in two ways: (1) internally, to improve the quality of our service, and (2) externally, to improve the crisis space as a whole.
We find ways in which data can support our Crisis Counselors. They are on the front line, talking with thousands of texters in crisis every day. We use data to help them focus on doing what they do best: talking to texters in crisis. Here are a few ways.
We share data to support smarter research, policy, and community organizing. Unlike other large-scale datasets on mental health and crisis, our data has incredible volume, velocity, and variety. We’re using this in several ways:
We love learning. Got ideas for how we can do a better job of championing humans and putting more empathy in the world? Have a research idea that will help the world better understand anxiety or self-harm or something else? Want to work here? For all that and more, email info@crisistextline.org.
