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Bandwidth now supports messaging 988 for suicide prevention

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Ashley White

Updated

What's happening? 

Bandwidth now supports SMS messaging to 988 as the number for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). 

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides 24/7 free and confidential support for people in distress as well as prevention and crisis resources. We are proud to support this new three-digit dialing code.

What do I need to know?

Any Bandwidth messaging-enabled long code is capable of sending SMS to 988. Please note that sending MMS to 988 is not possible at this time. 

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will automatically respond with a welcome message, followed by a second response containing a URL to the lifeline’s Terms of Service. The sender is prompted to respond with “YES” to accept the terms and be connected with a counselor.


Canada does not support the ability to text 988 to reach the national suicide prevention service but help is available. You can contact the service in the following manners:

  • Adults can text 741741;
  • Youth can text 686868; or
  • Quebec residents can text 1-855-957-5353; or
  • Calling Canada’s suicide prevention service at 1-833-456-4566.

Le Canada ne permet pas d’envoyer un SMS au 988 pour joindre le service national de prévention du suicide, mais d’autres aides sont disponibles. Vous pouvez contacter le service national de prévention du suicide des manières suivantes:

  • Les adultes peuvent envoyer un SMS au 741741;
  • Les jeunes peuvent envoyer un SMS au 686868;
  • Les résidents du Québec peuvent envoyer un SMS au 1-855-957-5353; et
  • Vous pouvez aussi appeler le service canadien de prévention du suicide au 1-833-456-4566.

What do I need to do?

Please note that testing should be minimized as much as possible, and any non-urgent traffic should contain the word “test” somewhere in the content. 

Questions?

Learn more about the FCC requirements regarding the 988 short code at the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also open a ticket with your Bandwidth Support Team or hit us up at (855) 864-7776!

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