Volunteers at the Suicide Prevention Centre (CPZ) in Flanders made over 23,073 calls in 2022 through Suicide Line 1813, a free and anonymous helpline for those thinking of suicide, the CPZ announced on Tuesday. This is a slight increase compared to 2021 when 22,870 calls were made.
"The need for suicide prevention in Flanders remains high," said CPZ code director Piet De Bruyn. Suicide prevention work mainly involves conversations by phone (17,043) and chat (3,843), and to a lesser extent by email (2,187). An average telephone conversation took 27 minutes, while an average chat conversation took over an hour. Almost half of the chat users are under 19 years old. There are also remarkably more female callers, with six in ten callers being women.
The majority of callers contact the helpline regarding themselves. Among them, more than half have been thinking about suicide for more than a year.
Flemish Minister for Welfare Hilde Crevits stressed that the Suicide Line is "for many people the place where they talk about their suicidal thoughts for the first time," and hopes that the people who feel that talking helps them would seek further help.
The number of calls received by the Suicide Line has been on the rise for several years. As recently as 2012, the centre received some 11,500 calls. The increase was especially significant in 2020, during the Covid-19 crisis, with over 23,614 calls. In addition, every year more and more callers switch to Tele-Onthaal, an anonymous helpline for those in need of a helping hand. In 2022, there were 14,426 calls made to the helpline, a marked increase compared to 12,601 in 2021.
"The Suicide Line has taken several steps forward in recent years, in terms of growth in the number of volunteers and expansion of the opening hours of the Suicide Line chat," said co-director Eva Van de Gazer. "Today, we see a stabilisation of that growth. Now, the CPZ faces the challenge of further strengthening and consolidating the Suicide Line."
Training for suicide prevention
The Suicide Line is staffed exclusively by volunteers and students as part of their training or internships. At the end of last year, the centre had 302 volunteers and 75 students. "Without the many volunteers, tens of thousands of people in need of a conversation would not get a listening ear. Their work is so valuable that it can literally save lives," stated Crevits.
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The CPZ also focuses on suicide prevention through training courses. In 2022, the centre reached 2,375 people in 89 formations, where they learned the basics of suicide prevention. "In the coming years, we remain committed to deliberately focusing on those actions where we can make the most difference for people with suicidal thoughts and their loved ones," said c0-director Piet De Bruyn.
Anyone with questions about suicide can call the free phone number 1813 any time of the day. Chatting is available every day from 17:00 to 00:00.
Those in need of a listening ear or with any questions about suicide can contact the Suicide Line anonymously on the toll-free number 1813 or at www.zelfmoord1813.be in Dutch, at 0800 32 123 in French, or at 02 648 40 14 in English.
