If you or someone you know, needs immediate assistance, please call the Veterans Crisis Line. This a free service for all Veterans in times of need. Callers will be immediately connected to a professional who will assist the caller with resources, become a listening ear as long as they need, and will notify your local VA that will also follow up with you.

As of January 2025, VCL has responded to more than 8.4 million calls, 1 million chats, and 447,000 texts, and has referred more than 1.6 million Veterans to SPCs (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VCL internal reporting). Studies evaluating crisis lines (including VCL) have observed positive outcomes, including significant reductions in users’ suicidal and crisis states. The effectiveness of VCL is evident through outcomes such as reduced suicidal ideation and attempts after VCL calls, the volume of dispatch to emergency interventions, referrals to resources, greater health care utilization among at-risk groups, and high user satisfaction. Calls to crisis lines are associated with initial reductions in suicidal ideation, including among Veterans and these reductions are maintained or continue to decrease, with more than half of suicidal
callers reporting no suicidal thoughts or behaviors after 1–2 weeks.