Xbox connects people to help through Crisis Text Line

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Windows Blog.

Every day, people come to Xbox to play, have fun, relax and for self-care to reduce stress. Sometimes, they need someone to take them from a “hot” moment to a calmer state. Thanks to Xbox’s partnership with Crisis Text Line, they can reach out to a mental health resource, if they need it. Every month, Xbox refers people to this nonprofit organization, which provides free, text-based 24/7 support, connecting those in need to a network that includes more than 27,000 trained, volunteer crisis counselors throughout the U.S. “You could think of us as a mental health emergency room,” says Dena Trujillo, interim chief executive officer at Crisis Text Line and a board member for about six years. Their crisis counselors have had 5 million conversations with people since the service launched in August 2013, directly and through a wide array of partnerships. “People come to us with anxiety, isolation, trauma, suicide ideation. We handle the entire range. When people come to us, we have a triage system in place, to get to people that are in the highest and most significant need faster.” Read the rest at Microsoft Stories.