Over 100,000 calls: Bavaria's crisis services working to help souls!

Over 100,000 calls: Bavaria's crisis services working to help souls!

Last year, the crisis services in Bavaria helped over 100,000 people in difficult life situations. With a total of 97,816 telephone calls and 3,834 personal crisis interventions, the experts from psychology, social education and psychiatric nursing provided valuable support. These numbers represent a further increasing trend that has been observed for years. Medical Journal reports that over 88,100 telephone calls and 3,800 crisis interventions took place in 2023 alone, while almost 82,500 contacts were recorded in 2022.

What is particularly striking is that 75% of the callers were those affected themselves. The crisis services continually show how important it is to seek help in crisis situations. An interesting finding is that almost two thirds of the callers were women. The most common reasons for anonymous inquiries related to depressive states, problems in the private environment and worries about relatives. Fears, panic and acute stress reactions also play a major role, with suicidality being mentioned in 8% of cases.

Courage in the crisis – A Bavaria-wide initiative

The increasing number of calls is also supported by the Bavaria-wide “Courage in the Crisis” campaign. This campaign aims to encourage people to speak openly about their experiences of mental health crises. This initiative is supported by the affected people's organization Mutmachleute e. V., which works together with crisis services to raise society's awareness of mental health. On the website crisis services.bayern You will also find important information about the offers and accessibility of the crisis services.

The crisis services, which are available around the clock, can be reached on 0800 / 655 3000 and are available to everyone free of charge, be it for those affected, relatives or specialist agencies. If necessary, they also provide individually tailored offers for further support.

Further support – the future of crisis helplines

In Germany, a new crisis number 113 will also be introduced, which will be available nationwide. This hotline is specifically designed to provide more efficient support to people in psychological distress in order to relieve the burden on existing emergency services and the police. Crisis number 113 explains that the introduction of this number represents a significant step towards improving suicide prevention. Trained specialists will be available via the number in acute crisis situations and will help to send mobile teams.

The crisis number 113 is not intended to replace other advice services, but rather to act as a central contact point. The hotline is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2026 at the latest. Financing from public funds is ensured in order to share the costs between the federal and state governments. However, until the new number is introduced, existing services such as telephone counseling (0800 111 0 111) and the Bavarian Psychiatry Crisis Service (0800 655 3000) will remain available.

The need for support for mental health problems has increased due to the effects of the corona pandemic. This makes it even more important to have open conversations about mental health and get help early on.