The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected individuals and communities, with implications for both mental and physical health. The mental health impact of COVID-19 on health care workers was expected to be particularly pronounced but was not yet well understood. As health systems struggled with historically high volumes of patients because of COVID-19, identifying innovative ways to provide evidence-based mental health support without burdening health systems was a priority. Caring text messages, such as “Hello [name], just wanted to say I hope you’re doing OK and remind you that I’m here for you,” have been shown to significantly reduce suicidal ideation and behavior. Caring texts sent in clinical trials published to date have been sent by specialists that know the recipient, yet caring text programs implemented at scale rarely include the step of introducing the recipient to the sender. It is unknown whether receiving caring texts from an unknown sender is as effective as receiving caring texts from someone who knows the recipient.
