Swiss childline receives more emergency calls

More emergency call enquiries to the advice centre for children and young people Keystone-SDA

Demand for emergency counselling for children, adolescents and young adults increased sharply in Switzerland in 2024. Most cases involved suicidal thoughts, violence in the family and bullying.

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Last year, around 47,700 contact requests were received by phone or WhatsApp, as the Pro Juventute Foundation announced on Friday. This is 13% more enquiries than in 2023 and, in terms of hours, the amount of counselling has doubled since 2019. Pro Juventute Director Nicole Platel stated in the press release that time will tell to what extent the increase this year is related to better accessibility and counselling practices with WhatsApp.

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Suicidal thoughts were also the most frequent topic in 2024. The counselling team received an average of 13 enquiries every day, it continued. In the previous year, there were nine enquiries per day. The counsellors called out a blue-light organisation or the relevant institution 207 times to save lives or avert serious danger. In 2023, this happened 166 times.

There was strong growth in enquiries about violence in the family, bullying and sexual violence. In 2024, the emergency number “147” received 14 enquiries about violence in the family per week, compared to nine in the previous year, according to Pro Juventute. There were around nine enquiries per week for counselling on bullying and sexual violence. Pro Juventute’s parent counselling service “24/7” also recorded 14 enquiries per week on violence-related topics.

Children and young people can contact Pro Juventute’s professional counsellors free of charge and confidentially around the clock. The experts from Counselling Help 147 can be contacted by phone 147, WhatsApp chat via 147.ch, email to [e-mail].

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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