#crisislines #988Lifeline #CrisisTextLine

It is difficult to hold the health care system (such as it is) accountable in the USA.

I made an FOIA (freedom of information act) request to USA agency SAMHSA for:

"All public agency records relating to the application & approval, or disapproval, of Crisis Text Line as service provider (backup or otherwise) to 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) (“988 Lifeline”)."

They replied: ...

@urbandata @p2173
I'm personally grateful to Dr. Bernholz for this work and for keeping a light shining on #CrisisTextLine (p. 14) as an example of exploitative data practices that are continuing, against person in their most vulnerable moments. #crisislines

#crisislines Apparently USA agency SAMHSA isn't responsible for approving crisis line centers for participation in the #988Lifeline national call/text network. Film at 11.

Partial response to my public records request about whether #CrisisTextLine has been approved:

"Approval or disapproval of service providers to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is not handled by the federal agency. It is managed by a grantee. Hence, we have no agency records related to this request."

I have more questions.

Content: #crisislines, advocacy
Retaining crisis conversations indefinitely is a carceral-state act. Capturing and holding in jail the words, at a private corporation's pleasure. Words of unsuspecting humans, in their crisis moments & volunteers. "Sentiment-rich" data is not a cool take. #CrisisTextLine / Loris

#CrisisTextLine #CrisisLines
I'm sharing this link to a 28 Feb 2022 Lock and Code podcast interview of Courtney Brown by @davidalruiz. An informative interview for those interested in crisis lines, non-profits, #DataEthics. #988Lifeline.

So - bringing it to the top. Courtney Brown is currently at Larkin St Youth Services in San Francisco.

CW: Content - podcast discusses variety of issues faced by persons experiencing crisis.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-crisis-text-line-crossed-the-line-in-the-publics-mind/id1500049667?i=1000552467602

#crisislines #988Lifeline
It takes about 45 text msgs with a volunteer on a crisis line for someone experiencing crisis to feel they can go on. That's kind of amazing.
For a non-profit to then profit off that, is gut-wrenching.
#CrisisTextLine still holds shares in Loris .ai, the for-profit it created.