Crisis Support

If you or someone you know needs immediate help:

ON-CAMPUS (including City Vista): If you or someone you know needs help immediately, call TUPD at 210-999-7000. TUPD will enlist the assistance of mental health professionals as needed.

OFF-CAMPUS: If you or someone you know needs help immediately, call 911.

24/7 Counseling Careline
Exclusively for Trinity students. Call 1-855-850-4301.

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 
Speak with a counselor in English (988) or Spanish (988 and press 2). Text and chat options are available in English and Spanish.

National Domestic Violence Hotline 
Speak with a counselor by calling 1-800-799-7233 or connect through their text or chat options.   

The Trevor Project  LGBTQ+ Crisis Hotline 
Speak with a counselor by calling 1-866-488-7386 or connect through their text or chat options. 

Trans Lifeline
Run by trans people, for trans people. Call 1-877-565-8860 (English) or 1-877-330-6366 (Spanish). Monday-Friday, Noon-8 p.m., Central Time Zone (including San Antonio).

National Sexual Assault Hotline
Speak with a counselor by calling 1-800-656-4673 or connect through their text or chat options. 

San Antonio Rape Crisis Center
Speak with a counselor by calling 210-349-7273 or connect through their chat option.

International Crisis Lines
For international crisis support, click one of the links and search by country: 

• International Suicide Hotline Numbers (includes additional hotlines)
• International Helpline Numbers

If you are interested in connecting with a therapist for free or reduced-cost counseling, here are options available to you:

• Free multi-session counseling on campus or through Trinity’s telehealth partner, TigerCare Live.
• Free and reduced-cost options off campus.

Friends, faculty, staff, and family members who are concerned about a Trinity student’s wellbeing can contact Counseling Services for guidance and support. Counselors can help you explore ways to support a student and connect them with helpful resources.

If there is an immediate safety concern, contact TUPD at 210-999-7000 or call 911 off campus.

Consultations are typically conducted by phone and focus on helping you determine the best next steps for supporting a student. Counseling Services can provide guidance, resources, and recommendations, while respecting student privacy and confidentiality.

In most situations, students must choose to schedule and attend counseling appointments on their own. Counseling Services cannot share information about a student’s care unless the student has provided written permission.

High-Level Concern

Contact TUPD immediately if a student may be at risk of harming themselves or others. TUPD officers can respond quickly and coordinate emergency medical services or Trinity’s on-call counselor when needed.

Moderate-Level Concern

If the student appears to be in distress but not in immediate danger, consider:

• Listening and helping the student explore support options (see How to Support a Student, below)
• Encouraging the student to connect with Counseling Services
• Submitting a Student Care Referral Form (can be submitted anonymously if desired) through the Dean of Students Office
• Consulting with Counseling Services for guidance

Supporting another person starts with caring, listening, understanding, and collaboration. Consider the following guidelines as you offer help.

1. Step 1

   Set the Stage

   If you and the student are able to talk face-to-face, ensure that you have privacy. If possible, allow for enough time that the two of you can talk at length. Minimize distractions (e.g., turn off the ringer on your phone) and talk to the student only if the student is alert and sober. Otherwise, pursue a conversation at another time.

   If you must talk with the student from a distance, do so by telephone if possible, rather than e-mail or texting, because a person s tone of voice sometimes conveys important information. Before your initial contact, prepare yourself to listen nonjudgmentally to what the student might reveal to you about what they feel or think or have done. Your compassionate and supportive attitude will invite the student to open up and will facilitate your discussion.

2. Step 2

   Listen

   Listening empathically and nonjudgmentally is the most important thing you can do! Listening means encouraging the other person to tell the story of what they are going through, including not only the facts, but also the thoughts and emotions they experience in response to what is happening in their life. Listening empathically means seeking to understand the other person s concerns from their point of view.

   Listening empathically also means accepting the depth and breadth of the student's emotions--including sadness, fear, and shame--as being normal and understandable in light of what they are going through. Avoid rushing to offer reassurance; the student might infer that they should not talk about their emotions with you and thus censor themself.

   If you find the student being defensive or arguing with you, you may not be listening carefully. Instead, you may be attempting to offer advice or solve the problem prematurely, probably because you are under the mistaken impression that giving advice is at the heart of helping. In reality, listening is at the heart of helping. "Just listening is powerful; it IS doing something.

3. Step 3

   Inquire about Suicidal Thoughts, If Appropriate

   If the student is significantly distressed or depressed, it is important to ask about thoughts of suicide. Asking will not plant the seed. Don t say, "You re not thinking about killing yourself, are you? (Asking about suicide that way implies that you want the student to say no, even if the answer is yes.) Instead, ask something like this: Are you feeling so bad that you think about ending your life? If the student admits to such thoughts, ask for specifics about what the student contemplates. The more specific and lethal the thoughts, the greater the risk. If you learn that the student is at risk of committing suicide or being violent, ensure you know of the student s current location and call the Trinity University Police Department for assistance (210-999-7000) if the student is on campus, including in the City Vista apartments. If the student is off campus, call 911.

4. Step 4

   Explore Options

   Offer to help the student generate and consider options for coping with or responding to the problem(s) they are experiencing. (Be aware, however, that some students don t need this help because your empathic listening helped them to get unstuck and do what they need to do.) If the student is open to you helping them brainstorm what to do, a good place to start is to ask what the student has already done. Then ask what the student has considered doing. After the student has generated their ideas, you may have some additional options to offer for their consideration.

   Be mindful that one option is to seek input from others on campus. Depending on whether the concerns are academic, career-related, or personal, you might suggest that the student consult with a professor, adviser, or member of the staff of campus support services such as Counseling Services. Please see Campus Resources for further information about some of the other support services offered on campus.

5. Step 5

   Make a Plan

   Although you can be helpful in brainstorming options, the final decision about how to proceed remains with the student. It is important that the student make their own plan of action because they are more likely to follow through on a plan that is personally acceptable.

   The student may not feel better immediately after having talked with you. They may need some time (days, weeks or months) to work through their situation. Your ongoing support, understanding, and acceptance is important during this period.

Unfortunately, you cannot make someone open up to you and accept your help. If the student insists that things are okay, convey your ongoing concern and your willingness to offer support in the future. If you later observe continuing or additional signs that the student is struggling, approach the student again to share what you've observed and offer to listen.

It is also possible that the student does not want to burden you with their problems, especially if they have experienced you as someone who is prone to worry. So, you might remind the student that Counseling Services is a place where they can talk confidentially about whatever they may be concerned about.