Crisis Text Line

The Crisis Text Line serves anyone in any type of crisis, 24 hours a day. Trained crisis counselors will respond and help you:

  • English, text HOME to 741741
  • Spanish, text HOLA to 741741 or text to 442-AYUDAME in WhatsApp

If you are a caregiver, the Crisis Text Line and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers (RCI) have teamed up to provide free, 24/7 support to help you navigate the stresses and demands of providing care. Caregivers needing mental health support can text TOUGH to 741741.

Dealing With Traumatic Events

The Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Mental Health provides frequently-asked questions, tips and resources for how to handle traumatic events.

Information includes possible symptoms after experiencing a traumatic event and when to seek help from a trained professional.

Identifying Alternatives to Guardianship

The Transition Services Liaison Project (TSLP) South Dakota aims to help students with disabilities reach their maximum potential in their transition from high school to the adult world.

The project’s Alternatives to Guardianship Stoplight Tool can help with identifying a person’s ability to make decisions and manage key areas of life. It is intended to help with exploring alternatives and less restrictive options to general or full guardianship.

A Family Toolkit: Pediatric-to-Adult Health Care Transition

Got Transition and its National Family Health Care Transition Advisory Group have developed a new toolkit for families to use to guide their youth’s transition from pediatric to adult health care.

The Family Toolkit includes easy-to-use resources for youth and families to help youth assume more independence in taking care of their own health and using health services. Materials include a transition timeline, questions to ask your doctor, what turning 18 means for one’s health and more.

Lantern (Formerly Bright by Text)

Lantern (formerly Bright by Text) is a national nonprofit dedicated to providing families with essential information for raising kids, from pregnancy through the preteen years. Lantern offers a free text messaging service that delivers high-quality information to families to help them foster a child’s healthy growth, based on their exact age and developmental stage.

The age-based messages have been created in collaboration with experts in the child development field and include speech and language skills, social-emotional development, tips, conversation starters, learning games and activities, and much more.

Families can sign up using the form on the Lantern website. Text messages are customized by the child’s due date or age and zip code.

Courageous Parents Network

The Courageous Parents Network (CPN) is a nonprofit that aims to empower, support and equip families and providers caring for children with a serious medical condition.

CPN presents educational resources in an array of formats — including video, audio story, downloadable guides, blogs, events and more — with a singular goal: to give parents confidence that they are being the best possible advocate for their child. Curated resources include:

  • Navigating medical complexity
  • NeuroJourney – information and support for families grappling with the medical, social and emotional aspects of Severe Neurological Impairment
  • Coping with loss

DREAM Project Dance Videos

The National Dance Institute has a series of YouTube videos of their inclusive dance program called the DREAM Project (Dancers Realize Excellence through Arts and Movement). The project provides children with disabilities the opportunity to dance and perform. Each dancer is encouraged to achieve their best through teamwork, creativity, empathy and discovery.

Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Clinic Directory

The Adult Congenital Heart Association’s ACHD Clinic Directory provides information on ACHD Board Certified providers certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and ACHA ACHD Accredited Centers.

You can search for clinics by zip code and state. You can find more details and health information on the Adult Congenital Heart Association’s website.

Mother’s Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes

Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes provides safe, pasteurized donor human milk to premature and critically ill babies.

Milk Bank WGL also supports moms who donate milk after loss and distributes reduced-cost or free donor milk to chronically ill middle and low-income children.

This non-profit organization serves over 75 hospitals and hundreds of families throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Use the locator tool to find a Milk Depot near you.

JCFS Chicago’s Respite Program

JCFS Chicago’s Respite Program provides support to families caring for children and youth with special needs.

Its program “takes a supportive, nurturing and therapeutic approach, combined with fun, social and recreational activities, while providing a well-deserved break for parents.”

For more information, visit the JCFS website, email ask@jcfs.org or call toll-free at (855) ASK-JCFS (275-5237).