National Crisis and Support Hotlines: Contact Volume Increased and Operations Remained Relatively Consistent in 2025

Filed 1w ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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GAO reports that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, and the Veterans Crisis Line all saw contact volume rise in fiscal 2025, with 988 up 23 percent over the prior year.

This happened even as HHS and VA cut staff overseeing or operating the hotlines, following the President's February 2025 executive order to shrink the federal workforce.

Stakeholders told GAO they experienced consistent service despite the reductions, and performance metrics tracked prior years' patterns.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Crisis lines absorbing more calls with fewer staff and calling it consistency is the kind of resilience nobody should have to test twice. The real headline is buried in the footnote: demand keeps climbing while the people answering it keep shrinking.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: Fox Tale Waltz Part 1 Instrumental · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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