Resources

I have divided this Resources page into two sections. The first section is for clients I am seeing for therapy. These are listed immediately below. Further down the page are resources for people who have attended my trainings under a separate header. These are more educational-type resources about topics I train about.

Resources for people who are in an acute mental health crisis

1. If you are in crisis and feel you want to harm yourself or others, please call 911. 

 If possible, if there is a person in your household or even that you can call on the phone (like me or a friend) who you feel safe talking to about what’s going on while you are waiting for the paramedics to arrive, let them know what you are experiencing so they can support you when crisis services come to evaluate you. Please get help quickly, there is no shame in keeping yourself alive.

 If there is someone who can remove any weapons, drugs, or other means of harm from your location before the paramedics arrive who can hold them for safekeeping or lock them up, please ask them to do so.

This is a good idea for those of you who have chronic or periodic suicidal/homicidal thoughts as well. 

2. Resources for people who have been thinking about suicide and want to talk or chat. 

Both the National Suicide Hotline and San Francisco Suicide Prevention have options for chatting as well as talking. They are also anonymous.  

National Suicide Hotline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/  1-800-273-8255

 San Francisco Suicide Prevention has an excellent website with several hot lines that are staffed 24 hours a day seven days a week. https://www.sfsuicide.org/.  

The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth. TrevorLifeline: 866-488-7386. 

I also find these tips from the Born This Way Foundation helpful both for preventing this type of crisis at times. They list coping skills for managing these feelings, and also provide a list so you can recognize signs that a crisis is building that may lead to thoughts of self-harm either in yourself or someone you care about.

https://bornthisway.foundation/self-care-tips/ 

Additionally, there is an app that came out recently called “Not OK”. You can upload up to five of your closest contacts into the app and send them a personalized message that can include your location when you are in crisis. The app allows you to send a second message to let people know you are feeling better and you no longer need a call back once you are feeling more stable. https://www.notokapp.com/ 

3. Resources for people who have been thinking about using drugs or alcohol again after a period of where they have stopped or who have already re-started their use and want to talk to someone about it immediately. 

If you or someone you care for have used substances and think there may be a potential overdose, please call 911 and get help immediately. 

If you think it may be an opioid overdose and you have Narcan available, please use that and initiate CPR and/or rescue breathing before the paramedics arrive. Follow the advice of the 911 operator and they can walk you through it. 

San Francisco has a “Relapse Line” 415-834-1144 as part of the services offered at https://www.sfsuicide.org/ 

If you would like to call Bay Area 12-step programs and talk to someone there, San Francisco Alcoholics Anonymous has a hotline that is answered 24 hours a day seven days a week by members of Alcoholics Anonymous. They can talk to you and help you find a meeting if you’re interested. Their website is here: https://aasfmarin.org/. The phone number is here:  415-674-1821.  

Narcotics Anonymous works exactly the same way when you call their hotline. The website is here: https://sfna.org/ The phone number is here: 415-621-8600.  

If you are outside of San Francisco and would like help and think you might relapse or are relapsing, your local community also has AA and NA so you can look them up online by searching for your city and “Alcoholics Anonymous” or “Narcotics Anonymous” in a web browser.  

The main thing to remember about relapse is that it’s a temporary condition, that you should try and quit as early as you can, tell someone about it, AND that you absolutely can get your life back on track after it happens so you should try to remain hopeful. 

4. Harm Reduction Resources for Clients 

If you think you may be drinking more than you would like to and are having trouble cutting back on your own, you may try looking at some of the tips offered at HAMS, a website dedicated to Harm Reduction for Alcohol https://hams.cc/ or Moderation Management https://moderation.org/ 

If you are using other drugs and are unfamiliar with Harm Reduction principles and techniques, a good place to start is Denning and Little’s book Over the Influence: https://www.guilford.com/books/Over-the-Influence/Denning-Little/9781462526796 

If you are looking for online resources, a good place to start is: https://towardtheheart.com/safer-use