You don't have to do this alone.
A few numbers. Use them. Reaching out is not weakness — it's the work.
If you are in immediate danger
If you're in distress but not in immediate danger
For Muslims specifically
If you are a Zaha client
Crisis never waits for Zaha. Call 988, text HOME to 741741, or call 911 first, every time — day or night, before anything else. Zaha is not a crisis service and your rooms are not monitored around the clock.
Then, when you are safe: post in your shared room or message either provider. Anything with risk in it is treated as same-day priority under our Clinical Safety Manual, both your providers are looped in, and the safety plan you built with your therapist in week one already carries your numbers and your people. Your providers will be in the room when you return.
If you are reaching for these numbers right now, please know: this is the work. The Qur'an says la taqnatu min rahmatillah — do not despair of Allah's mercy. We mean that, and we mean the calling 988 part too. Both are part of the same turning.
You are not alone in this. Reach out.
For someone else
If you are reading this for a friend or family member who is in distress, here is what tends to help most:
- Be present. Sit with them. Don't try to fix it in the first ten minutes.
- Ask plainly. "Are you having thoughts of hurting yourself?" doesn't plant the idea — it gives them permission to answer.
- Don't leave them alone if they are in immediate danger. Call 988 together if you can. 911 if it's escalating.
- Take them seriously. Even if it sounds dramatic, even if you've heard it before. Especially then.
- Follow up. The next morning, the next week, in a month. Most people in crisis remember exactly who showed up afterward.