Partner with Crosstalk

Recovery treatment programs & groups

Programs already tell people to call a peer every day. Crosstalk makes that call happen. Offer it to the people you serve as part of aftercare, and give each cohort its own circle on Crosstalk, so the people who went through treatment together stay connected after discharge. Keeping an alumni group alive is a real job: finding a time that works, sending the reminders, corralling people onto the call, week after week. Few programs have the staff for that work, and Crosstalk automates it: it helps the group find its time, sends the reminders, rings every member into each voice or video call, and pairs members one-on-one in between. Keeping the group together doesn't depend on dedicated staff or an eager alum. Sober living residences and recovery community organizations can use the same model for regular peer contact.

Staying connected after discharge matters even when recovery does not go as planned. If relapse happens, an alum who remains connected may find it easier to ask for help sooner and return to people they already trust.

Two things stay true in every facility partnership: the service is free for your clients, and members' individual activity is not reported to facility staff. Participation reporting, where it exists, is aggregate. That privacy is a design principle, not a limitation; it's why people in recovery trust the platform enough to use it.

Senior centers & community organizations

If your organization already visits, feeds, drives, or calls people who are isolated or can't easily leave home, Crosstalk extends what you do into the hours between visits. Members get a familiar daily voice on whatever phone they already own. And the groups you host can keep going between gatherings: a weekly club can have its own circle on Crosstalk, where the system rings everyone into the group call together, with no links to click and no codes to dial, and no volunteer stuck doing the organizing forever. Senior centers, centers for independent living, disability service organizations, libraries, area agencies on aging, and other trusted community organizations are natural fits.

Healthcare systems & providers

Loneliness and isolation sit behind a long list of the conditions health systems treat, and social connection is one of the few supports a patient can use every single day at no cost. Hospitals, clinics, and behavioral health providers can refer patients to Crosstalk at discharge or as part of a care plan. It works on any phone, including a landline, so there is nothing to install and no technology barrier for the patients who need it most.

Veterans organizations

For many veterans, the people who understand best are other veterans. For veterans living with PTSD or moral injury, isolation can add another burden. Crosstalk does not treat those conditions or replace crisis care, but it gives veterans a regular way to talk with peers who understand. Veterans service organizations, Vet Centers, and local posts can offer Crosstalk as a buddy check or a way to stay connected between gatherings. It works on any phone, including a landline, and each member goes by the name or nickname they choose.

Reentry programs

Coming home from incarceration can be one of the most isolating stretches there is, and reentry programs can offer the people they serve a regular peer call through Crosstalk. Any phone works, numbers are never shown, and each member goes by the name or nickname they choose.

Faith communities

Congregations are often the first to notice when someone stops showing up, and the first to want to do something about it. A congregation can bring Crosstalk to homebound and isolated members, or give an existing group, a men's breakfast, a prayer circle, a widows' group, its own circle that meets by phone between services. Crosstalk is not affiliated with any faith or fellowship; it simply makes the calls happen.

Colleges & universities

Crosstalk grew out of Columbia University, and campus partnerships fit it naturally. Collegiate recovery communities can offer members the daily peer call. Service programs can direct student volunteers to a role where an hour a week genuinely matters: keeping a regular call with an isolated older adult. Alumni associations can also offer regular Crosstalk calls for graduates who want to stay connected across distance and decades. And faculty and students who study loneliness, recovery, or digital health can work with us on evaluation, which brings us to the next section.

Researchers

The evidence that peer connection protects health is strong. Evidence about Crosstalk specifically is what our pilots exist to gather, and we will report what we find either way. The platform has surveys built in, so participant-reported measures can be collected as part of ordinary use. If you study loneliness, addiction recovery, or social connection and want a real-world platform to study, we would genuinely like to hear from you.

Corporate partners

Companies partner with Crosstalk by sponsoring the service that keeps it free, lending skills we'd otherwise have to buy (design, legal, accessibility, translation), and organizing employee volunteering, where team members become regular voices for isolated older adults. If your company's giving is focused on health, aging, or recovery, this is a place where a modest commitment carries a long way.

Volunteers

Volunteers make Crosstalk work. People with solid recovery time stay available so a newcomer always reaches someone. Younger volunteers keep a regular call with an isolated older adult or disabled member. Every answered call is an act of service to the person on the other end, and volunteers tell us the best way to help yourself is to help others. No special training or minimum hours: a voice and some consistency are the whole job.

Funders

Crosstalk is operated by Crosstalk Connections, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and it stays free for the people who use it because donations and grants keep the phone lines open. Foundations and individual funders who want their giving to reach people in recovery and people experiencing loneliness or isolation can donate or reach out to talk about supporting a pilot with a specific community.