Safety & escalation

When something feels urgent, no one is left on their own

Chaperone is built so that safety-sensitive moments are recognized early, handled by trained people, and escalated to the right help. Peer support is a warm first step; it is not a crisis service. If you or someone you know is in danger, use the resources below right now.

Get help now

Immediate crisis support

If you are thinking about harming yourself or someone else, or you are in immediate danger, please reach out to one of these free, confidential resources right away.

Call or text 988

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connects you with trained crisis counselors, 24/7, for free and confidential support in the U.S. Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org.

Call 911 in an emergency

If there is an immediate threat to life or safety, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. Emergency services are the right responders when someone is in danger right now.

Text the Crisis Text Line

Prefer to text? Message HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line and connect with a trained volunteer crisis counselor, free and 24/7.

Chaperone is not an emergency service. Peer Coaches offer human connection, encouragement, and guidance. They are not emergency responders, therapists, or clinicians, and they cannot provide crisis intervention. If you are in immediate danger or experiencing a crisis, call 911 or call or text 988 in the U.S. for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
What peer support is, and isn’t

Clear boundaries, so people know what to expect

Peer support works because it is honest about its role. Peer Coaches walk alongside people early and often, but they stay within defined boundaries, and they know when a situation calls for someone else.

  • Peer support offers connection, encouragement, and practical guidance grounded in lived experience.
  • It is not therapy, clinical treatment, diagnosis, or crisis counseling.
  • Peer Coaches are trained to recognize when a conversation needs to move to higher-level help.
  • They connect people to clinical, crisis, and community resources. They don’t try to be those resources.
  • Every Peer Coach works within structured supervision and escalation protocols.
How escalation works

A defined path from a quiet concern to the right help

Safety-sensitive moments don’t rely on a single person noticing. Chaperone layers human judgment, supervision, and AI-assisted signals so that concerns are surfaced early and routed to the appropriate level of support.

Step 1

Recognize

Peer Coaches are trained to listen for risk and concern. Intelligent Guidance can flag possible safety signals to support that human judgment, never to replace it.

Step 2

Pause & support

The Peer Coach stays present, acknowledges what the person is sharing, and follows defined steps to keep the conversation safe and supportive.

Step 3

Escalate

When a situation exceeds the boundaries of peer support, it is escalated to a supervisor and routed toward clinical, crisis, or emergency resources as appropriate.

Step 4

Connect & follow up

People are connected to the right resource, including 988 or 911 when warranted, and, where appropriate, supported afterward so they aren’t left navigating alone.

Escalation pathways are configured with each organization and aligned to its clinical, crisis, and emergency-response standards. Specific protocols, response times, and resource mappings are defined during deployment.
Oversight by design

Humans stay accountable for safety decisions

Technology can surface a signal, but people make the safety call. Supervision, quality review, and human oversight are built into how support runs every day.

Human review

Safety-sensitive interactions and AI-surfaced signals are reviewed by trained people. Automated tools assist with recognition; humans decide what happens next.

QA & supervision

Peer Coaches work within structured supervision and ongoing quality assurance, reviewing interactions, reinforcing boundaries, and improving how safety moments are handled.

Continuous improvement

Findings from supervision and QA feed back into training, protocols, and Intelligent Guidance, so safety handling gets clearer and more consistent over time.

Age-appropriate care

Trained for sensitive contexts

Lower-barrier first step

Tightened escalation thresholds

Youth & vulnerable populations

Extra care where people may be more at risk

When something feels like too much, young people and other vulnerable groups deserve a safe place to talk and a faster path to the right help. For these populations, escalation thresholds and protocols are configured with added care and aligned to each organization’s standards.

We focus on safe, supportive connection, not fear-based messaging or surveillance of the people we serve.

Go deeper

How safety connects to the rest of our trust posture

AI governance

See how Intelligent Guidance is governed, supervised, and kept in an assisting role; never the decision-maker on safety.

View AI governance

Privacy

Understand how personal information is handled with care, and what people can expect when they reach out for support.

View privacy approach

Trust overview

Step back and see the full picture: supervision, security, privacy, and oversight across the Chaperone platform.

See the trust overview
Let’s talk

Want to see how safety and escalation are configured for your population?

Talk with our team about supervision, escalation pathways, and crisis-resource integration, or get routed to the right support path for you.