Snapchat teams up with Shout, the UK's free mental health text line

Snapchat is teaming up with Shout, the UK's free text line for anyone suffering a mental health crisis, to roll out an integration of the service within the app.

A UK version of the U.S.-founded Crisis Text Line, Shout launched in May 2019 with royal backing — the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan and Harry, invested £3 million in the offshoot service.

The 24/7 text line service is similar to that provided in the U.S., in which users are able to text a free number (in the UK, send the word "shout" to 85258), and after four automated responses, you'll be connected to a trained volunteer Shout crisis counsellor. Traffic depending, this usually comes within five minutes of sending, and conversations end only when the volunteer is sure you're safe.

"The goal of the conversation is to help you reach a calm and safe place, with a plan of how to support yourself going forwards," describes Shout. "As well as listening without judgement, our volunteers may provide you with further resources or tools to help you get more expert support."

Snapchat's partnership with Shout will function in the same way as it does with Crisis Text Line in the U.S. If you see a Snapchat post from a friend that is worrying, you can report it in the app, after which the person reported will receive a chat prompt from Snapchat reading, "A friend is worried about you," and providing helpful mental health crisis resources and options. This will include a prompt to send a specific word to Shout from within the app to chat with a counsellor — so basically, it's just like a regular text to Shout but prompted within the Snapchat app.

The integration comes in addition to Snapchat's existing mental health support feature, Here For You, which launched in March 2020 amid the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Shout's website, the service is now staffed by over 2,300 trained volunteers, who have had more than 550,000 conversations with people in need since launching in 2019. "The most common issues which emerge during a conversation are: suicide (34 percent), depression (34 percent), anxiety (32 percent), relationship (27 percent), loneliness (18 percent) and self-harm (15 percent)," says Shout's site. The service is currently seeing upwards of 1,000 conversations per day.

Crisis lines have spiked across the globe during the ongoing pandemic, with virtual therapy sessions and therapy apps also on the rise during this time. As the UK continues through its third national lockdown, free mental health services like Shout are crucial, especially as surveyed Britons have said they are finding it more difficult to cope this time around.

NHS data analysis by UK mental health charity Mind found that more people in the UK have experienced a mental health crisis during the pandemic than ever previously recorded. Calls to Mind's helpline reportedly doubled on several days in November 2020, and that "urgent and emergency referrals of people in crisis have shot up since the beginning of the first national lockdown, with figures for June and July higher than ever previously recorded."

Text lines like Shout are just one of the many accessible tools available to people in the UK during a mental health crisis, especially during this ongoing pandemic. You can also call Samaritans any time, day or night on 116 123, or consult this NHS list of helplines and support groups. 

The more free, accessible tools we have at the ready, the better.