Minnesota’s text message suicide response service will soon be available statewide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, there will be more suicide prevention services at no additional cost to the state.

Crisis Text Line, a national non-profit, will be providing text suicide prevention services free to Minnesota. People who text MN to 741741 will be connected with a trained counselor who will help defuse the crisis and connect the texter to local resources. Crisis Text Line will be the state’s sole provider for this service beginning April 1. Crisis Text Line has been available since 2013 across the nation, including in Minnesota.

Currently, the state pays $1.125 million to support 54 out of 87 counties with both text message suicide response services and community suicide prevention efforts. Crisis Text Line, funded through grants and donations, will be providing the text message service at no cost, saving the state money. These savings will be used to expand community suicide prevention and local coordination supporting Crisis Text Line statewide. A request for proposals for these services was released yesterday, January 16.

Text message suicide response services have been successful in helping people in need. Texting is the preferred way to communicate for many people — especially youth — and it is important to reach people where they are at when they are contemplating suicide or in crisis. Crisis Text Line (https://www.crisistextline.org/) handles 50,000 texters per month nationally. Minnesota’s previous text message suicide response service has been offering services since 2011, responding to more than 11,000 texts in 2016.