At Christmas, the telephone counseling service expects a particularly high number of calls. The workload is generally very high, said Tilmann Beyer, who is responsible for the telephone counseling service at Diakonie Sachsen. However, the service is used even more during the holidays. At peak times, it can happen that callers cannot get through directly because all the lines are busy.
"Everyone seems to be fine, only I'm in a bad way"
Topics such as loneliness or the loss of family members and friends come to the fore. In the Christmas spirit, the impression arises: "Everyone seems to be doing well, only I'm doing badly," said Beyer. The winter depression caused by darkness and cold is also noticeable.
People seeking help can contact the telephone helpline around the clock by phone or online. Last year, the six Saxon locations in Dresden, Bautzen, Chemnitz, Leipzig, Zwickau and Auerbach received around 57,000 inquiries, which resulted in around 45,000 pastoral conversations, according to Diakonie. The volunteers provided around 38,000 hours of service for this purpose.
