San Diego Mental Health Hotline
Free, confidential support for San Diego residents — available 24/7.
⚠ Safety Notice
If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 911.
If you’re having thoughts of suicide or are in emotional crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
The Mental Health Hotline is a support and resource line, not a substitute for emergency services.
By most measures, San Diego is in better shape than the average large American city. Fewer adults here report frequent poor mental health days, fewer rate their own health as poor, and the uninsured rate is among the lowest in the country. Cost is a real barrier for some people, but it is not the barrier that defines this city.
One figure runs the other way. More than one in four adults in San Diego says they do not have the social and emotional support they need, which is the 14th highest share among the 100 large cities we cover. You can be well insured, in good health and still have nobody to call at eleven at night.
The Mental Health Hotline is one place to start. Calling is free and confidential, and the line is open 24/7. Call 866-903-3787 to ask about mental health resources and treatment options in the San Diego area, including depression care, group therapy and support for veterans.
Table of Contents
Options for San Diego Hotlines
The resources below serve San Diego and San Diego County, starting with the Mental Health Hotline and moving outward to statewide and national lines. Several are built for the county’s large military and veteran community. If you are dealing with an emergency right now, call 911, or call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For options elsewhere in the state, see our California mental health hotline page.
San Diego Mental Health Statistics to Know
San Diego’s numbers are a useful reminder that mental health need does not track neatly with money or coverage. Depression diagnoses here run below the average for large cities and the uninsured rate is lower than in almost all of them, yet the share of adults without reliable emotional support is close to the highest in the country.
Sources: San Diego figures are model-based estimates from the CDC PLACES 2025 release, built on 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data: 28.5% of adults reported a lack of social and emotional support (95% CI 25.8–31.5), 21.2% reported a depression diagnosis (95% CI 19.0–23.7), 8.5% of adults under 65 lacked health insurance (95% CI 7.6–9.6), 16.5% reported 14 or more poor mental health days in the past month, and 36.6% reported feelings of loneliness.
Help Is Here
Not having anyone to talk to is its own kind of problem, and it is a common one here. The lines on this page exist precisely for the moments when the people in your life are not the ones you can call.
The Mental Health Hotline is free to call, confidential and open 24 hours a day. Call 866-903-3787 to ask about your options and get pointed toward support in the San Diego area.
Call when you’re ready.