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Federal buildings aren’t typically the easiest places to access when filming a documentary. Despite that, director Ellen Goosenberg Kent, a documentarian with a 20 years career of creating films like Wartorn: 1861-2010 (2010), Middle School Confessions (2002) and One Nation Under Dog (2012), gained access to the nation’s only crisis center for military veterans to film Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (2013). There, over a total shooting period of nine months, she observed the incredible jobs of their phone responders, eavesdropping on their calls, watching their procedures, and gaining insight on the work of this critical facility.

Getting access to the responders and the facility required a number of agreements between the filmmaking team and the crisis center.

“We had to ask the responders for permission,” Kent tells Indiewire. “Then we had to promise that we wouldn’t make an effort to record the phone call or to pursue any of the callers in any way for a follow-up or reveal any identifying information about the caller. We had a written agreement with the hotline—that’s how we would operate. The understanding was we would have access to one side of the call and only with the folks who agreed to work with us. So when we arrived to start filming, we didn’t know that the film would work. ”

The crisis center obviously saw the film as an opportunity to let people and veterans know they were there, and what type of help they can expect if they call. The more phone calls they receive, the more opportunities they have to save lives and fix people’s situations for the better.

“We sat down with a large group of responders and emergency rescue coordinators in their lunch room. We told them that we thought they were doing life-saving work. With the suicide statistics and the crisis that was out there, we wanted to do everything we could to raise awareness about the hotline and raise awareness about the magnitude of the problem—and to do everything that we could to create a situation where we might be able to help de-stigmatize reaching out for help.”

The film crew had to overcome some logistical issues related to filming, since a tight-quarter cubicle-based office layout isn’t naturally conducive to camera crews. But that wasn’t a real concern for the filmmakers, who were focused on showcasing an incredible team of individuals and raising awareness about the prominence of very real, very serious mental health issues among US military veterans.

Obviously grateful for the access granted by the operators at the crisis center, Kent thanked them specifically for allowing the film to be made during her 2015 Academy Awards acceptance speech, when she took home the Oscar for the film.