Community Impact

VIA LINK provides information, referrals, training and crisis intervention to people, organizations and communities so they can help themselves and others. The VIA LINK call center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to listen, answer questions and provide resources to people who call 211 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If a caller is in crisis, the confidential counselor who answers will start helping them on the spot. Lavondra Dobbs, CEO for VIA LINK, says the counselor will begin assessing the caller’s needs, “listening to their story, seeing how they can best help them prioritize their needs to be addressed and provide some information and resources for them.” VIA LINK is housed in New Orleans, but answers 211 calls for 10 Louisiana parishes. VIA LINK also answers about half of Louisiana’s National Suicide Prevention Lifeline calls. In total, that’s about 60,000 calls each year. “VIA LINK actually started as a grassroots organization,” says Dobbs. “A group of