Introducing the New StarVista Crisis Center Website!
Our team is excited to debut the new StarVista Crisis Center website, the new home of many of our crisis services and information about the support we provide to San Mateo County residents.
Who We Are
The StarVista Crisis Center originated as the first program of the agency back in 1966, and was the third crisis hotline founded in California. Over half a century later, the Crisis Center only continues to grow and provide high-impact services around crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and mental health education.
Our services currently include the 24/7 crisis hotline, teen crisis services, crisis response for schools, educational presentations, and more.
The new website homepage contains quick links to the 24/7 hotline, teen chat, and teen text line.
New Teen Text Line
Teen Text Line
Teens can text 650-747-6463 for peer crisis support 4:30pm-7:30pm, Monday through Thursday.
In 2020, the Crisis Center received funds to create a teen-focused crisis text line. This would be an expansion of our teen crisis services, which began with the teen chat and onyourmind.net in the 1990s. Like the teen chat, the teen text line will be staffed with peer volunteers under Crisis Center staff supervision.
Teens age 13+ can text 650-747-6463 to chat with a peer counselor 4:30 pm-9:30 pm Monday through Thursday. Teens can talk about mental health challenges, suicide, interpersonal relationships, or anything that they need support around. Peer counselors are trained to assess for suicide, offer non-judgmental emotional support, and connect service users to resources if wanted.
This service is free, confidential, and safe for youth. Check out our FAQ for further information on how the service is run.
Volunteer Training June 2021
Our crisis center has seen a increase in overall call volume since 2020. We are always looking for passionate people from the community who want to offer support to our callers. We have volunteer positions for adults and teens for our hotline and teen chat services. We will begin accepting applications in June for our next volunteer training in fall of 2021. Click the link below to read more about our volunteer opportunities.
What’s Next for the Crisis Center
2021 continues to be a year of growth for the StarVista Crisis Center. In addition to debuting our new website and launching our Teen Text Line in March, we are in the development stages of a very exciting youth crisis response program with the support of San Mateo County BHRS. This will revolutionize crisis intervention for youth in San Mateo County. Our hope is to create a program that reduces the need for psychiatric emergency services in youth crisis response while increasing direct access to clinical assessment and family support services. Stay tuned for further updates!