Urgent support
If you need help now
This page is here because some things should not wait for a questionnaire. The most urgent options are first. Nothing on this page requires an account, and nothing is recorded.
Start here
If you or someone else is in immediate danger
Call your local emergency number now. You do not need to be certain that it is serious enough. That is their judgement to make, not yours.
112 works across the European Union and also connects in the United Kingdom. If you are somewhere not listed, search for your country's emergency number before you need it.
Suicidal thoughts, or a crisis that has no name yet
If you are thinking about ending your life
Please talk to one of these services today. They are free, they are confidential, and the people answering do this work because they want to.
You do not have to be in immediate danger to call, and you do not have to have a plan, a diagnosis, or the right words ready. “I do not really know why I called” is a complete opening sentence.
United States
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Free and confidential, 24 hours a day. You can call or text 988. It is for anyone in emotional distress — not only for people who are actively suicidal.
Canada
988 Suicide Crisis Helpline
Free, 24 hours a day, available by call or text, in English and French.
United Kingdom and Ireland
Samaritans
Free to call, 24 hours a day, every day. They will listen for as long as you need, and you do not have to be suicidal to call.
Abuse, control, or fear of a partner
If you are afraid of someone you are close to
Abuse is not only physical, and it rarely announces itself. Control often arrives as care, and then slowly becomes the weather. Some of the behaviours worth naming: checking your phone, your messages or your location; deciding what you can spend, or keeping money in their name; discouraging the friendships and family contact that used to steady you; keeping track of where you are and who you spoke to; threats delivered as jokes, so that objecting makes you the one who overreacted; a running account of your faults that you have started to agree with.
If you are afraid of how your partner would react to anything on this site, that fear is itself information worth taking seriously.
You know your situation better than any questionnaire does. Nothing on Between Us needs to be completed, nobody is waiting on your answers, and you are under no obligation to finish a session you have started — including one your partner set up. You can close a session, delete your answers or delete your account at any time, from your own account, without their permission and without us telling them why.
If reading a results page together would not be safe, do not read one. This is a reflection tool for people who are free to be honest with each other. When that is not the situation, it is the wrong tool, and the people below are the right ones.
United States
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Free, confidential, 24 hours a day. Advocates can talk through your options and help with safety planning. The website has a chat service and a quick-exit button.
United Kingdom
National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge
Free, 24 hours a day. For anyone experiencing domestic abuse, and for friends or family who are worried about someone.
Australia
1800RESPECT
The national counselling service for sexual assault, domestic and family violence. Phone and online chat, 24 hours a day — search for 1800RESPECT for the current contact details.
Anywhere else
Your local domestic abuse service
Most countries have a national domestic abuse line. Rather than print a number we are not certain of, we would rather you reach the right one: use the international directory below, or search for a domestic abuse helpline in your country.
A practical note on being watched
If someone has access to your phone or computer, consider using a device they cannot reach — a friend's phone, or a computer at a library — and clearing your browsing history afterwards. Many domestic abuse organisations explain how to do this safely on their own sites, and several keep a quick-exit button on every page.
Child safety
If a child is being hurt, or you are worried one might be
You do not need proof to make a call. These services exist to help people who are unsure, and reporting a concern is not the same as making an accusation.
United States
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Available 24 hours a day for anyone concerned about a child's safety, including children themselves. Calls can be anonymous.
United Kingdom
NSPCC Helpline
For adults worried about a child. The NSPCC also runs Childline for children and young people. Search for the NSPCC helpline for the current number, or use their website to contact them.
Anywhere else
Your local child protection service
If a child is in immediate danger, call your emergency number first. Otherwise, search for your country's child protection or social services line.
Not listed here
An international directory of helplines
We have deliberately kept this page short rather than printing numbers we are not certain are current. If your country is not above, this directory lists verified crisis lines worldwide, filtered by country and by the kind of help you need.
Find A Helpline
Free, confidential support lines in over a hundred countries. Choose your country and it shows you what is available, including chat and text options where they exist.
findahelpline.comBetween Us is not a crisis service
We want to be completely clear about this, because the alternative is someone relying on us when they should not.
Nobody at Between Us reads your answers as you write them. We do not scan accounts for signs of risk, we do not run any kind of automated detection for self-harm or abuse, and no alert is generated if you write something worrying in a reflection box. There is no monitoring and no duty of care here of the kind a clinical service carries.
Between Us is a reflection tool for two people who are both free to be honest. It does not provide therapy, counselling, medical or psychological advice, or a diagnosis, and it is no substitute for a trained person who can respond to you in real time. The disclaimer explains that in more detail.
If you emailed us, we might not read it for a day or two. Please use the services on this page instead. They are available now, and they are better at this than we are.
The organisations on this page are independent of Between Us. We do not receive anything for listing them, we do not pass them any information about you, and following a link here tells us nothing. If a number on this page is out of date, please tell us so we can correct it.