The crisis chat is a contact point that offers children and young people professional help in dealing with crisis situations. You can find out exactly how the system works and what advantages and disadvantages it has here.
The crisis chat has been around since spring 2020 – so it was founded at the beginning of the corona pandemic, during the first lockdown. Three high school graduates from Berlin had the idea at the time. The crisis chat is a contact point that provides psychological support to children and young people up to the age of 25 in all kinds of crises. In contrast to a hotline, you don’t call with crisis chat, but rather write to the organization via WhatsApp or web chat.
What is crisis chat?
According to the founders, the WhatsApp messenger service was deliberately chosen: it is the best-known medium for making contact among the younger generations. However, those affected can find making phone calls rather unpleasant – and in some situations it may not be possible at all. For many people, going to therapy takes even more effort.
Advice in chat format is intended to eliminate these hurdles and make the offer as low-threshold as possible. The founders hope that this will encourage more young people to have the courage to address their problems.
The idea for the crisis chat came about due to the circumstances of the corona pandemic. The lockdowns ensure that children and young people have fewer opportunities to get in touch with friends and external advisors: sports and leisure facilities were closed and the minimum distance and the requirement to wear a mask placed an additional burden on some.
Even after the pandemic is over, crisis chat can help you deal with feelings of isolation and loneliness. But you can also contact the organization if you have other problems (such as heartbreak, domestic violence, alcohol and drug consumption, arguments, suicidal thoughts…).
Crisis chat: This is how you get help
If you want to take advantage of crisis chat advice, simply write a message to the organization. You can find the number on the website. You don’t have to register or pay any money. The entire offer is free, but you should be under 25 so as not to overuse the capacity.
A crisis counselor will then contact you. The crisis chat team mainly consists of child and youth psychotherapists, social educators and workers as well as educators. The crisis counselors work on a voluntary basis and are there for you around the clock. So you can contact us at any time of the day or night. The consultation chat then lasts as long as you wish. You can cancel at any time or come back another time.
Before the counselors start working at Crisis Chat, they receive training. This includes starter training, two workshops and a manual. If you are still not satisfied with the advice, you can simply stop the chat and contact us again a few minutes later. This may give you access to another contact person.
WhatsApp as crisis advice?
According to the organization, WhatsApp is a significantly more secure medium than, for example, email or SMS. This is due to end-to-end encryption, which ensures that data is only stored on special servers and the other party’s device.
The data is encrypted both during transmission and on the servers. This means that WhatsApp, as a company, theoretically never has direct access to the messages you send.
Nevertheless, WhatsApp is repeatedly viewed critically with regard to data protection, for example by the German Society for Data Protection. This is particularly because the messenger service belongs to Facebook – a company that has caused several data scandals in the past.
The extent to which you trust the app enough to use it for crisis chat is ultimately up to you. Since 2025, you have also had the option of contacting the crisis chat via the website’s own chat function. To do this, simply click on the “Go to Chat” button at the top right of the screen. Crisis chat also promises secure data processing for this web chat. However, there are no external assessments of this so far.
Crisis chat: No substitute for therapy
So far, with Crisis Chat you can only communicate your problems via chat. Calls are not possible (yet). If this is too impersonal for you, you can use advice hotlines such as the number against grief. You can also find further tips and information about contact points for children and young people on the Pharmacy Umschau website.
Finally, you should be aware that crisis chat is not a replacement for therapy. During therapy, you have regular conversations and are looked after by a specific contact person. This may make it easier to build trust and also address unpleasant problems. Therapists also have the opportunity to accompany you over a longer period of time instead of just chatting with you for a few hours.
So if you feel that you need support from an external, professionally trained person, you should not be afraid to inquire about therapy options. A first step is to approach social workers at your school or in a youth center.
Since it is sometimes not easy to get a timely appointment for therapy, contact points such as the crisis chat are a good alternative. The decisive advantage here is that someone will contact you immediately and offer help and you don’t have to wait weeks or months.
Revised by Philipp Multhaupt
Read more on Techzle\.com:
- Self-doubt: tips on how to overcome it
- Overcome fear: These strategies help
- Depressive moods: How to recognize and overcome them
Independent journalism needs people who stand behind it – including in Google searches. Now send a signal for more sustainability and → Save Utopia as a preferred source.
** marked with ** or orange underlined Links to sources of supply are partly partner links: If you buy here, you are actively supporting Techzle\.com, because we then receive a small part of the sales proceeds. More info.