News > Someone to talk to at Christmas

Created: 2007-12-19 17:11:23

SANEline is open throughout the Christmas and New Year period as normal. Our unique helpline service is open 365 days a year from 1pm to 11pm to sustain those for whom the festive period can be the most isolating time of year.

Last Christmas Alan, who had fought against severe mental illness for over 20 years, reached such a state of hopelessness that he and his wife begged for help.

Alan was known to be a serious suicide risk and in all previous occasions had been taken into hospital for the refuge he craved. Instead a message was left on his answer phone with an appointment after Christmas, which to him seemed an endless wait.

With nowhere to turn he left the house and walked a short distance to a wood, where he hung himself. His body was found three months later.

There are one in six people who suffer from depression disabling enough for them to seek help. SANEline is there to save lives like Alan by being open through the Christmas and New Year period, weekends and evenings, 365 days a year. We offer a unique helpline service, which offers a call-back service to those most in need and sustains people during the times when they feel they have nowhere else to turn.

SANE cannot answer all of the thousands of calls we receive each week but we do our best to be there for as many as possible and to campaign for the services responsible to take the cries for help from people like Alan more seriously, and provide the sanctuary they need instead of closing wards and leaving impersonal messages.

Help us buy more time to give more people, empathy and the confidence to find a way forward by donating to out winter appeal.