when echo hears that you’re not safe

Sometimes a reflection turns into something heavier. You might be typing to Echo late at night and write something you have never said out loud. This page says, in plain words, what happens then.

what echo is, and what it is not

Echo is an AI. It is a computer program that writes replies. It is not a person. Every Echo window says so, all the time, and Echo reminds you again when a new conversation starts and at least every three hours if you keep talking.

Echo is not a therapist, a counselor or a clinician, and Framed Minds is not therapy or mental-health care. Echo does not diagnose, treat or assess anyone. Echo is not an emergency service: it cannot call anyone, send help, or know where you are.

what echo watches for

Before any message reaches the AI, Framed Minds checks it on our own server for clear signs that someone may be thinking about suicide or self-harm, or is being hurt by someone else (words like “kill myself,” “end my life,” “self-harm,” “better off dead” and “someone is hitting me”). This check is a fixed list of phrases, not an AI guess, so it works the same way every time.

It also notices softer signs, like “hopeless” or “I can’t go on.”

The same check runs in the Echo chat on the website and in the app, in the Frame Check-In, in Your Frames at Work, in the Inner Cartography conversation, and when Echo replies in the community.

exactly what happens

When there is a clear sign: Echo does not use AI to reply at all, and your message is not sent to the AI. Instead you see a fixed message from Framed Minds, the same one every time: that what you wrote matters, that you deserve a real person with you right now, and the three lines at the top of this page (988, findahelpline.com, your emergency number). Echo then pauses the reflection. This happens whatever your membership, even if you have used all of this month’s Echo messages.

In the Inner Cartography conversation, the same fixed message appears in the conversation as soon as you save that answer. Your answer is still kept as part of your map, and it is used when Echo draws the map, unless you change it or start over.

When there is a softer sign (in the Echo chat): Echo answers as usual, and a short line with the same numbers appears first, above Echo’s words.

If we got it wrong: a list of words will sometimes catch a sentence that was not about danger at all. If that happens, you can simply carry on. Each message is checked on its own.

Echo’s own instructions also tell it to stop reflecting and point you to these lines whenever it senses you might not be safe, even when the list did not catch it.

what echo never does

• Never diagnoses you or names a condition.
• Never tries to keep you talking. When you are not safe, the most useful thing Echo can do is point you to people.
• Never pretends to be a person, a therapist, or a crisis line.
• Never tells anyone else what you wrote because of this check.

what is kept

When the crisis message appears, Framed Minds adds one to a running count: how many times it appeared that day, on which part of the platform, and whether the sign was clear or softer. The count has no name, no account and no words in it. We keep it so we can see whether the protocol is working and report the numbers where the law asks us to.

Separately, your Echo conversation is saved in your own chat history, as every Echo conversation is, so you can come back to it. You can see it, download it or delete it at any time from Privacy settings. No one at Framed Minds is alerted when the crisis message appears.

reaching a person at framed minds

You can write to [email protected] or use the contact page. A person reads every message, but not around the clock, so in a crisis please use the lines at the top of this page first.

for adults only

Framed Minds and Echo are for people 18 and over. Every account confirms a date of birth and that the person is 18 or older, and an account with a date of birth under 18 cannot sign in. If you are under 18 and need to talk to someone, 988 and findahelpline.com are there for you too.

Last updated: October 26, 2026. If this protocol changes, this page changes first.