Help right now
You don't have to figure this out alone — help is one call away.
These lines are free, confidential, staffed 24/7, and answer for New Hampshire. Call for yourself or about someone else. Print this page and keep it where you can find it.
988 Suicide & Crisis LifelineFree, confidential, 24/7. Spanish: press 2. Veterans: press 1.Call or text 988NH Rapid Response Access PointNH's statewide crisis line — can send a mobile crisis team with a licensed clinician to you, anywhere in NH, free.Call or text 833-710-6477Crisis Text Line24/7 text support when talking out loud isn't possible.Text HOME to 741741911If someone has been hurt, has a weapon, or can't be kept safe — say it's a mental health emergency and ask for a CIT-trained officer if available.Call 911
While you wait, or if you can't call yet
- You don't need the right words. “I'm not okay and I don't know what to do” is enough to start.
- If you can, don't be alone — call someone, or go where other people are.
- Put time and distance between yourself and anything you could use to hurt yourself (medications, weapons, alcohol).
- Crisis feelings crest and fall. The goal is to get through the next hour, then the one after that.
Grounding can help too: 5-4-3-2-1 grounding · paced breathing · make a safety plan
With someone in crisis right now?
What helps, in the order it usually helps.
- 1Say what you see, ask directly“You haven't seemed like yourself, and I'm worried about you. Are you thinking about suicide?” Asking directly does not plant the idea — it opens the door, and it's how you learn what you're dealing with.
- 2You can call the lines yourself988 and NH Rapid Response (833-710-6477) take calls from worried family and friends. They'll coach you on what to do next — including whether to request a mobile crisis team.
- 3Stay, listen, don't argue the feelingsYou don't have to fix anything tonight. Stay with them (or on the phone), listen more than you talk, and avoid debating whether things are “really that bad.”
- 4Reduce access to lethal meansIf it's safe to, help put medications, firearms, and alcohol out of easy reach — locked up, or held by someone else for a while. This is one of the most protective things a family can do.
- 5If they won't engage and you fear for their lifeCall 911 and say it's a mental health emergency. In NH, an emergency room can evaluate someone who is a danger to themselves even if they refuse care (an involuntary emergency admission).