Insights & Challenge
The Veterans Crisis Line is a national suicide prevention hotline that supports Veterans and their loved ones who may be going through a crisis. For many years, the phone number was a 1-800 number, and much of our messaging encouraged the public to save the number in their phones for potential future use, since it’s long and unmemorable. In 2022, the federal government implemented “988,” similar to 911, for anyone experiencing a mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis. The Veterans Crisis Line was included in this roll out, with all Veterans being asked to “press 1” when dialing 988, so they could receive their Veteran-focused support.
Solution
The “Dial 988 then Press 1” campaign was created to raise awareness for this updated, easier-to-remember phone number. Our audiences were: primary - Veterans and their loved ones; secondary - folks internal to VCL and the VA. We created social and paid media graphics, ads for the internal newsletter, email signature graphics, video call backgrounds, one-pagers, as well as updating all promotional materials for VCL that used the 1-800 number.
Video Background
PowerPoint Deck
Email Signature
One-pager
