diff --git a/connect/connectNotificationServer.js b/connect/connectNotificationServer.js
index 2bb28c2..41184bb 100644
--- a/connect/connectNotificationServer.js
+++ b/connect/connectNotificationServer.js
@@ -86,27 +86,25 @@ const getNotificationsForMentionedUser = (logger, eventConfig, content) => {
   // only one per userHandle
   notifications = _.uniqBy(notifications, 'userHandle');
 
-  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => { // eslint-disable-line no-unused-vars
-    const handles = _.map(notifications, 'userHandle');
-    if (handles.length > 0) {
-      service.getUsersByHandle(handles).then((users) => {
-        _.forEach(notifications, (notification) => {
-          const mentionedUser = _.find(users, { handle: notification.userHandle });
-          notification.userId = mentionedUser ? mentionedUser.userId.toString() : notification.userHandle;
-        });
-        resolve(notifications);
-      }).catch((error) => {
-        if (logger) {
-          logger.error(error);
-          logger.info('Unable to send notification to mentioned user')
-        }
-        //resolves with empty notification which essentially means we are unable to send notification to mentioned user
-        resolve([]);
+  const handles = _.map(notifications, 'userHandle');
+  if (handles.length > 0) {
+    return service.getUsersByHandle(handles).then((users) => {
+      _.forEach(notifications, (notification) => {
+        const mentionedUser = _.find(users, { handle: notification.userHandle });
+        notification.userId = mentionedUser ? mentionedUser.userId.toString() : notification.userHandle;
       });
-    } else {
-      resolve([]);
-    }
-  });
+      return Promise.resolve(notifications);
+    }).catch((error) => {
+      if (logger) {
+        logger.error(error);
+        logger.info('Unable to send notification to mentioned user')
+      }
+      //resolves with empty notification which essentially means we are unable to send notification to mentioned user
+      return Promise.resolve([]);
+    });
+  } else {
+    return Promise.resolve([]);
+  }
 };
 
 /**
@@ -151,7 +149,7 @@ const getProjectMembersNotifications = (eventConfig, project) => {
     return Promise.resolve([]);
   }
 
-  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+  return Promise.promisify((callback) => {
     let notifications = [];
     const projectMembers = _.get(project, 'members', []);
 
@@ -186,8 +184,8 @@ const getProjectMembersNotifications = (eventConfig, project) => {
     // only one per userId
     notifications = _.uniqBy(notifications, 'userId');
 
-    resolve(notifications);
-  });
+    callback(null, notifications);
+  })();
 };
 
 /**
@@ -415,10 +413,10 @@ const handler = (topic, message, logger, callback) => {
   }
 
   // get project details
-  service.getProject(projectId).then(project => {
+  return service.getProject(projectId).then(project => {
     let allNotifications = [];
 
-    Promise.all([
+    return Promise.all([
       // the order in this list defines the priority of notification for the SAME user
       // upper in this list - higher priority
       // NOTE: always add all handles here, they have to check by themselves:
@@ -506,5 +504,12 @@ if (config.ENABLE_EMAILS) {
 //     notificationServer.logger.error('Notification server errored out');
 //   });
 
+
+process.on('unhandledRejection', (reason, promise) => {
+    console.log('Unhandled Rejection at:', promise, 'reason:', reason);
+    // aborts the process to let the HA of the container to restart the task
+    process.abort();
+});
+
 // if no need to init database, then directly start the server:
 notificationServer.startKafkaConsumers();
diff --git a/src/app.js b/src/app.js
index ccdbbb3..5c7944d 100644
--- a/src/app.js
+++ b/src/app.js
@@ -75,20 +75,37 @@ function startKafkaConsumer(handlers, notificationServiceHandlers) {
       });
   });
 
+  var latestSubscriptions = null;
+
   const check = function () {
-    logger.debug('Checking Health...')   ; 
+    logger.debug("Checking health");
     if (!consumer.client.initialBrokers && !consumer.client.initialBrokers.length) {
       logger.debug('Found unhealthy Kafka Brokers...');
       return false;
     }
     let connected = true;
+    let currentSubscriptions = consumer.subscriptions;
+    for(var sIdx in currentSubscriptions) {
+      // current subscription
+      let sub = currentSubscriptions[sIdx];
+      // previous subscription
+      let prevSub = latestSubscriptions ? latestSubscriptions[sIdx] : null;
+      // levarage the `paused` field (https://github.com/oleksiyk/kafka/blob/master/lib/base_consumer.js#L66) to
+      // determine if there was a possibility of an unhandled exception. If we find paused status for the same
+      // topic in two consecutive health checks, we assume it was stuck because of unhandled error
+      if (prevSub && prevSub.paused && sub.paused) {
+        logger.error(`Found subscription for ${sIdx} in paused state for consecutive health checks`);
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+    // stores the latest subscription status in global variable
+    latestSubscriptions = consumer.subscriptions;
     consumer.client.initialBrokers.forEach(conn => {
-      logger.debug(`url ${conn.server()} - connected=${conn.connected}`);
-      connected = conn.connected & connected;
+      logger.debug(`url ${conn.server()} - connected=${conn.connected}`)
+      connected = conn.connected & connected
     });
-    logger.debug('Found all Kafka Brokers healthy...');
-    return connected;
-  };
+    return connected
+  }
 
   consumer
     .init()