As someone who's volunteered on a similar hotline for several years, they account for that and don't count those.
I worked on a crisis hotline for sexual assault issues, and we definitely got a lot of what we called "inappropriate use calls". That included anything from prank calls, to people calling for issues completely unrelated to what we did, to people calling just to chat for some reason. Basically, any call that didn't match the purpose of the hotline and organization.
It was important for us to have accurate numbers regarding how many clients we actually served, for our reporting for things like donations and grants. The executives running the organization took that very seriously, of course.
So while I don't know how this group records their data necessarily, I have no doubt that they know how to filter real calls from fake ones and report accordingly.
mdjnsn t1_j295aw4 wrote
Reply to comment by raznov1 in TIL that calls directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline rose by 27% after the release of 1-800-273-8255 by American rapper Logic. by Sun_Aria
As someone who's volunteered on a similar hotline for several years, they account for that and don't count those.
I worked on a crisis hotline for sexual assault issues, and we definitely got a lot of what we called "inappropriate use calls". That included anything from prank calls, to people calling for issues completely unrelated to what we did, to people calling just to chat for some reason. Basically, any call that didn't match the purpose of the hotline and organization.
It was important for us to have accurate numbers regarding how many clients we actually served, for our reporting for things like donations and grants. The executives running the organization took that very seriously, of course.
So while I don't know how this group records their data necessarily, I have no doubt that they know how to filter real calls from fake ones and report accordingly.