For therapists and care teams

What it is

My card. For each kind of hard moment, the person writes what it looks like for them, what helps, what not to say, and who to contact for what. They choose which helpers see each section.
"I'm having a moment". One tap, then the kind of moment. Helpers who are on are asked to reach out. A moment carries only its kind and an optional pre-set ask, such as "call me". There is nothing to type.
"I've got this one". One helper claims the moment so the others can stand down. Helpers see the person's own card and plain do and don't guidance.
Follow-up check-ins. For eight weeks after a moment, helpers are reminded to send a few words that end with "No reply needed."
Around it: a safety plan, breathing and grounding, a private comfort kit, appointment reminders, and a directory of crisis lines and helplines.

The person chooses a front door when they set up: panic and anxiety, grief, urges and recovery, trauma responses, burnout, caregiving, or anything else. It only changes the examples and wording. For clients living with dissociation, our sister app iDID at idid.care is the better fit.

What it is not

Not an emergency service. Nobody at Both Ends sees moments or responds to them. Nobody is guaranteed to answer, and a moment can go unseen. If nobody has answered after five minutes, the person is told plainly and shown 988 and other crisis lines. 988 and 911 are one tap away on every screen.
Not therapy and not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition, and it does not replace professional care.
No scores. There are no questionnaires, risk levels or ratings of any kind, and nothing is reported about the person without a deliberate tap from them, each time.
Helpers are ordinary people. They are friends and family the person chose. They are not professionals. Both Ends does not train, check or vouch for them. The guidance they see is about listening and when to hand off.
Not part of your record system. Both Ends is not a health care provider or health plan, so HIPAA does not cover it, and we do not claim to be "HIPAA compliant". What a client shares with you is theirs to share. Once you have viewed it, handle it as your own practice requires.

A client can share a private, read-only view with you. They turn on exactly what you can see:

their card;
the dates and kinds of their moments, and nothing more than that;
check-in notes they received from helpers;
their answers to the private "How are you doing?" check-ins;
their name and support needs;
their safety plan;
their appointments.

They choose how far back it goes and for how long, read a plain summary, agree to it, and send you a link. It opens in any browser, with no account to create, and it updates as they use Both Ends. They can see when you last viewed it, change what you see, or remove your access at any time. When they do, the link stops working at once.

The view is encrypted on the client's device with a key that is only in the link, so our server cannot read it. Anyone holding the link can open it, so please keep it as private as you would any note about a client. You cannot write to it, and it does not notify you of anything. It is not a way for a client to reach you in a hard moment.

How to introduce it

Pick a good day. Both Ends is set up before it is needed. Writing the card takes about ten minutes, and some people like to do it in a session.
Start with the sample circle. At app.bothends.care a person can look around with a sample circle, without an account and without entering anything real.
Talk about who. The moment button stays off until the circle has two helpers. Three to five is better, with at least one backup. Only the person chooses, and they can remove someone silently.
Be plain about the limits. It may not be answered. It sits beside a safety plan and crisis lines. It does not replace them.
Leave the choice with them. It will not suit everyone, or every stage. Please use your own professional judgment about whether and when to mention it.

Both Ends is for adults 18 and older in the United States. Printable materials are in the press kit, and the guide helpers read is at How to be someone's person.

What is and is not known

We would rather you hear this from us. Both Ends is version 0.1.0, an early release that has not yet been tested with real circles.

An app that calls on a known person in the moment has never been tested in a trial. The closest earlier app, notOK, appears to have closed.
The follow-up check-ins are the best-evidenced part. Short "caring contacts" that ask for nothing, sent over time, have been studied in trials.
Guidance for helpers has been shown to raise their confidence. It has not been shown to change outcomes for the person helped.

That is why the card and the check-ins get as much room in Both Ends as the button.

Privacy, briefly

Everything a person writes is encrypted on their device with their passphrase. If they connect their circle online, it is end-to-end encrypted. There are no ads, trackers or data sales, no location, no "last seen" and no read receipts. Encryption covers what people write. Our server can still see which accounts share a circle and when records change, and we handle that as health data. The privacy page has the details.

An invitation to advise

We are forming a small advisory group: people who work in crisis services, therapy, recovery and peer support, alongside people who have had hard moments and people who have been the one called. Members look at new features and wording before release, and help us decide what not to build. It is a short call every couple of months, or written feedback if you prefer. It is volunteer for now, and we never ask advisors for anyone's data.

If you would like to be involved, or you see something on this site that should be worded differently, email hello@bothends.care.