CHANNAL’s ‘Warm Line’ is back up and running after five days off due to the State of Emergency.

The Warm Line is considered a “pre-crisis” line that was created for people who are not necessarily at a crisis with their mental health. They may need someone to talk to, or need some support to prevent the crisis from happening.

Executive Director Paula Corcoran says they were able to get the line operating within two hours, once they got the go-ahead from the city. She says one of the complications was that they were not deemed essential, because they were not a “crisis” line.

Corcoran says like any other service, once the State of Emergency came into effect, they were unable to travel to the building, and it wasn’t able to be cleared out. Once staff got in on Tuesday morning, their message machine was maxed out, with a list of 40 or more people they needed to contact.

They sometimes get 2,000 calls a month.

Corcoran claims that a conversation around changes will have to happen. She says it’s a conversation that will now pick up with the Department of Health and Community Services around re-evaluation, as a lot of people rely on the service, and they could have contributed greatly during the emergency.

The number to reach the Warm Line locally is 753-2560.

For those outside the St. John’s area, the toll-free number is 1-855-753-2560.

They are open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to midnight, and encourage people to leave a message if their call isn’t answered immediately.