Messages go unanswered by the Veterans Crisis Line

Almost 30% of the text messages sent to the Veterans Crisis Line go unanswered. This was discovered after a study done by the Government Accountability Office. They stated that 4 out of the 14 test text messages did not receive an answer. The VA stated responses for this could be, incompatibilities between device sending the texts and software the VA uses to process messages, software malfunctions that freeze the hotline’s text messaging, attempts to overload the system with a large number of text. Knowing this they also sent out a statement Monday that the will be working to improve the hotline. With the increase in veterans that have been using alternative modes such as text messaging the VA encourages Veterans to reach out to the Veterans Crisis line by calling 1-800-273-8255, using the online chat at VeteranscrisisLine.net/chat or by sending a text message to 838255. Full Article.