988 Day on September 8 and World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 create an important opportunity to make help easier to find. If you are in the United States and experiencing emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, call or text 988. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is for people who need crisis support, including when they are thinking about suicide. You do not have to wait until a situation becomes unbearable to reach out.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. B. Riley House is not an emergency service. Our website and intake team cannot replace emergency responders, an emergency department, or crisis clinicians, and treatment enrollment is not a crisis-intervention service.
Emergency help is appropriate even when you are unsure what words to use. If a person has taken an action to harm themselves, has a plan and immediate access to means, or cannot stay safe, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Do not leave someone in immediate danger alone while waiting for a routine intake conversation. Crisis support and emergency care come before exploring a program.
Affirming support can make asking easier
For LGBTQ+ people, distress can be shaped by minority stress: stigma, rejection, discrimination, concealment, isolation, or the repeated work of deciding whether a space is safe. Those experiences can affect mood, relationships, substance use, and willingness to seek care. Affirming support does not erase those pressures. It can make room to name them without shame and to consider what help is appropriate.
Support after a crisis can also be part of a longer conversation. A person may need a safety plan from qualified crisis professionals, medical attention, a trusted person nearby, substance-use care, mental-health treatment, or several kinds of support over time. The right next step depends on the person and the situation. No website article can assess an emergency.
If you are the person reaching out, you can use simple words: “I am thinking about suicide,” “I do not feel safe,” or “I need help staying safe tonight.” If you are supporting someone else, stay focused on listening and connecting them to immediate help rather than debating whether their pain is serious enough. When there is uncertainty about immediate safety, use emergency or crisis resources.
For a non-emergency conversation, the intake team can explain Cleveland services and what information may be useful. You can ask questions without promising yourself a particular path. Ongoing care is different from crisis response, and the next step should match the person’s safety and needs.
Where B. Riley House fits
B. Riley House offers ongoing recovery and behavioral-health services, not emergency response. Cleveland provides the full treatment continuum, including residential drug treatment at the ASAM 3.5 level of care, PHP, IOP, mental-health services, psychiatry, testing, and sober living. Our Cleveland services page can help you understand what to ask about when it is safe to plan for ongoing care.
Miami offers LGBTQ+-focused sober living only. It does not offer residential treatment, PHP, IOP, psychiatry, testing, or insurance-covered services. Miami sober living is self-pay at $800 per month or $200 per week. That distinction matters: sober living and treatment are different services, and neither should be presented as an emergency response.
For loved ones: stay close to the immediate need
If someone tells you they may hurt themselves, take it seriously and focus on immediate safety. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room for immediate danger. In the United States, call or text 988 for crisis support. If the person is safe and you are looking for ongoing recovery or behavioral-health information, our family resources can help you prepare questions for a later conversation.
For a non-emergency question about B. Riley House, you can contact the team. If you are safe and exploring treatment, you can start an application. Please also read our medical disclaimer: website information is educational, not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional advice or delay seeking it because of something you read here.