If you’re worried about someone’s mental health, the right way to get them help depends on how urgent the situation is. For an immediate crisis where someone is threatening suicide or could hurt themselves or others, call 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or 911. For non-emergency concerns, you have several options that don’t involve law enforcement at all, from crisis hotlines to welfare checks to workplace reporting channels.
Most people searching for this aren’t looking to “report” someone in a punitive sense. They’re trying to figure out how to connect a person they care about with help, especially when that person won’t seek it on their own. Here’s how to approach each situation.
During an Active Crisis: 988 and 911
If the person is talking about suicide, threatening to harm someone, or behaving in a way that suggests they’re an immediate danger, you have two primary options. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is specifically designed for these moments, and you don’t have to be the person in crisis to call. Third-party callers (people calling on behalf of someone else) are a significant part of the Lifeline’s volume. When you call, a crisis counselor will gather information from you to gauge how severe and immediate the risk is, including what the person has said or done, whether they have access to weapons or medications, and any identifying details you can share about them.
From there, the counselor may coach you on how to talk to the person directly, help you facilitate a three-way call that includes the person at risk, or guide you through steps like removing access to anything they could use to harm themselves and staying close to them until more help arrives. If the person is in imminent danger and no other solution is working, 988 counselors can contact 911 themselves.
Calling 911 directly makes sense when someone is actively hurting themselves or others, or when you believe violence is seconds or minutes away. If you do call 911, tell the dispatcher clearly that the person is experiencing a mental health crisis and share any diagnosis or mental health history you’re aware of. This information helps dispatchers send the right responders. Many areas now have mobile crisis teams or co-responder programs that pair mental health professionals with officers, but dispatchers can only send them if they know what’s happening.
What to Have Ready Before You Call
Whether you’re calling 988, 911, or requesting a welfare check through your local non-emergency police line, having specific details ready makes a real difference in the response. Prepare the following before you pick up the phone:
- The person’s location, as precisely as possible, including apartment number and any access codes
- What you’ve observed: specific statements they’ve made, behaviors that concern you, and how long this has been going on
- Their mental health history, including any diagnoses, medications, or past hospitalizations you know about
- Whether they have access to weapons, drugs, or other means of self-harm
- Your relationship to the person and how you came to know about the situation
You don’t need all of this to make a call. Even partial information helps responders prepare and approach the situation more safely for everyone involved.
Requesting a Welfare Check
If you’re concerned but the situation isn’t an emergency right now, you can call your local police non-emergency line and request a welfare check. Officers will go to the person’s home, knock on the door, and assess whether they appear to be in danger or need help. This is commonly used when someone has gone silent, stopped answering calls, or made worrying statements but isn’t in immediate crisis.
Again, mentioning that your concern is mental health related helps officers approach the visit with the right mindset. A welfare check is not an arrest. Officers are checking that the person is alive and safe. If they determine the person is at serious risk, they can initiate further intervention, but in most cases the visit is brief and low-key.
What Happens After an Emergency Report
If emergency responders determine that someone is a danger to themselves, a danger to others, or so impaired they can’t meet basic needs like food and shelter (a legal standard called “gravely disabled”), that person can be taken to a mental health facility for evaluation. In most states, this initial hold lasts up to 72 hours. During that time, professionals assess the person’s condition and determine whether they need further treatment.
If the clinical team concludes that the person still poses a risk after the initial 72 hours and the person won’t agree to stay voluntarily, the facility can certify them for up to 14 additional days of treatment. A certification review hearing must be held within four days of the 72-hour hold ending, giving the person a chance to contest the decision. Beyond that, extensions of 14 or even 30 days are possible in some jurisdictions, but each requires additional clinical justification and legal review. In rare cases involving ongoing danger to others, a facility can petition a court for treatment lasting up to 180 days.
The threshold for any of this is high. A person can’t be held involuntarily just because they seem unwell or are making choices others disagree with. There must be evidence of significant risk of harm.
When Someone Refuses Help but Isn’t in Crisis
This is the hardest situation, and the one many people searching this topic are actually facing. Someone you care about is clearly struggling, maybe declining over weeks or months, but they won’t see a doctor, won’t take medication, and aren’t in immediate danger.
One option in many states is court-ordered outpatient treatment, sometimes called Assisted Outpatient Treatment. These programs allow a court to require someone to follow a treatment plan (therapy, medication, regular check-ins) while still living in the community. Eligibility typically requires a documented history of repeated hospitalizations or incarcerations, or a pattern of behavior that’s likely to lead to serious harm or the inability to care for themselves without intervention. This isn’t something you can initiate on your own overnight. It involves petitioning the court, and the process varies by county and state.
Short of legal intervention, your most practical tools are the crisis lines. Calling 988 doesn’t have to mean someone is about to die. Counselors can help you think through how to approach the person, what resources exist in your area, and what your realistic options are given the circumstances. NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) also offers a helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI, along with local family support groups where people in your exact situation share what has and hasn’t worked.
Reporting Concerns at Work or School
If your concern is about a coworker or classmate, the reporting path looks different. In a workplace, you can raise concerns with a supervisor or HR manager. Federal law protects employees with mental health conditions from discrimination, so the goal of any workplace report should be connecting the person with support, not creating a record against them. If the person’s behavior is disruptive or unsafe, describe what you’ve observed in factual terms rather than diagnosing them.
Schools typically have counselors, threat assessment teams, or student services offices that handle these concerns. Most schools encourage you to report worrying behavior (withdrawal, talk of self-harm, erratic actions) to a counselor or administrator rather than trying to intervene on your own. K-12 schools and universities usually have formal protocols for evaluating students who may be at risk, and a report from a concerned peer or parent is often how those protocols get activated.
Choosing the Right Response
The core question is always: how immediate is the danger? Here’s a quick framework:
- Immediate threat to life: Call 911. Mention it’s a mental health crisis.
- Suicidal statements or behavior, but not in the next few minutes: Call 988. They’ll help you figure out next steps, including whether 911 is needed.
- You can’t reach the person and you’re worried: Request a welfare check through the local non-emergency police line.
- Ongoing decline, no immediate danger: Call 988 or NAMI for guidance. Look into outpatient treatment options in your state.
- Workplace or school concern: Report to HR, a supervisor, or a school counselor with specific observations.
In every case, focus on describing behaviors you’ve observed rather than trying to diagnose the person. “She told me she doesn’t see a reason to keep living” is far more useful to a crisis counselor or dispatcher than “I think she’s depressed.” Specific, concrete details help the people on the other end of the phone send the right kind of help.