Mental health resources in the United States
A short, current list of the support that actually exists — free crisis lines, treatment finders, and legitimate low-cost therapy routes. Haven is a reflection tool, not any of these things, so this page is deliberately mostly about services that aren't us.
Checked against the linked official sources: July 2026.
If you need help right now
Crisis support — free, 24/7, human
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988, or chat online. For anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, and for people worried about someone else. Spanish and 150+ languages available.
- Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to reach a trained volunteer crisis counselor.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, if someone in your life frightens, controls, or hurts you.
- 911 — for immediate danger to you or anyone else.
Finding treatment and everyday support
Free navigation services
- SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 (HELP), free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral for mental health and substance use, in English and Spanish.
- FindTreatment.gov — the federal directory of licensed treatment providers, searchable by location and payment type.
- 211 — dial 211 for local help of every kind: mental health services, housing, food, financial assistance.
- Warmlines — peer-run listening lines for when you want a human to talk to but it isn't a crisis. The directory lists lines by state.
Lower-cost therapy routes that are real
- Open Path Collective — a nonprofit network of therapists offering reduced-fee sessions to people without adequate insurance.
- Sliding-scale fees — many private therapists reserve reduced-rate slots; it is normal and acceptable to ask directly.
- Community mental health centers — income-based fees; findable through 211 or FindTreatment.gov.
- University training clinics — supervised graduate-student therapists at substantially reduced rates.
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) — many employers quietly include a handful of free counseling sessions; HR can tell you without asking why.
Where Haven fits — and where it doesn't
Haven is a private space for AI-guided reflection: sorting out a decision, decompressing after a hard day, preparing for a therapy session. It is not therapy, not treatment, not a crisis service, and it never will be any of those — the honest comparison lives on Haven vs. therapy. If anything on this page is what you actually need, please use it; reflection works best on the ordinary weight of life, not instead of care.
A note on privacy and US law, in plain English
- HIPAA probably doesn't cover your wellness apps. It applies to healthcare providers and insurers. Consumer journaling and AI-chat apps — Haven included — sit outside it, which is why an app's own privacy practices matter so much. Here are Haven's, in plain English.
- States began regulating AI "therapy" in 2025. Illinois and Utah, among others, passed laws restricting how AI products may present themselves around therapy — including what they may call themselves. That's why trustworthy tools in this category say plainly that they aren't therapy: it's both honest and the law.
- General assistants have general legal exposure. If you vent to a general-purpose chatbot, read what the 2025 ChatGPT court orders taught everyone about where those words can end up.
In Canada? The landscape is genuinely different — the Canadian resource page is here.