Mental health help — official crisis lines, not a neighbor chat

Right now

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988. FirstLink answers 988 for North Dakota and parts of western Minnesota (myfirstlink.org). 911 if there is immediate medical danger or a weapon. You do not have to decide which label fits perfectly. Call.

• FirstLink 211 / listening line: 211 or 701-235-7335; text your zip code to 898-211 for resources.
• Clay County publishes a 24-hour mobile mental-health crisis number at 1-800-223-4512 — confirm on claycountymn.gov.
• Crisis Text Line: Clay County lists text MN to 741741.
• NDSU Counseling: 701-231-7671 (Ceres Hall); after hours they route to FirstLink.
• MSUM and Concordia counseling: search the campus name plus Counseling Center for current appointment numbers. After hours: 988 or 911.

Not a Help Me category

Do not request a helper because you need someone to talk down a panic attack. Helpers are not clinicians. They are not a substitute for 988. If a request starts to sound like a crisis, the right move is to stop and call a crisis line — as the person in it, or as the person who just read the chat.

Ongoing care

211 can refer to local clinics. Sanford and Essentia operate large local health systems — search their behavioral-health intake rather than using a number from memory. Campus student health is for enrolled students. None of that intake happens inside Help Me.