Loneliness at Christmas: This is how telephone counseling in Vorarlberg helps!

Loneliness at Christmas: This is how telephone counseling in Vorarlberg helps!

Loneliness and desperate calls to soul shape the Christmas season in Vorarlberg. While most people come together in a festive mood, many others experience an emotional roller coaster ride. The telephone counseling plays a crucial role in this, like Sepp Gröfler, the head of the facility, emphasizes: "We can be reached around the clock and try to pick up people where their worries are greatest." The rush has risen noticeably, and especially family crises, financial worries and loneliness shape the callers. The case of a 15-year-old girl whose mother is dying is particularly remarkable. In her despair, she turned to the telephone pastoral care and found it and came into being by Gröfler, who donated her consolation and accompanied her to the last breath of her mother, as krone.at reported.

growing need for help

Loneliness for Christmas is an increasingly noticeable feeling, since this festival is often perceived as a family festival. "People sit alone at home and only experience the family from a distance," says Gröfler. This corresponds to an increase in calls to telephone counseling: "We expect the highest number in the history of telephone counseling Vorarlberg for 2022 with 17,000 talks." The reality of the callers often includes psychological stress, relationship problems and experiences of violence or abuse.

In order to counteract the stress in the current time, such as increasing living costs and ubiquitous loneliness, telephone counseling relies on empathy and active listening. "An open ear is the most important instrument that is available," explains Gröfler, adding that the helpers can often create a great relief for the callers with a simple listening. Hotline 142 remains an indispensable contact point for people in need-confidential, around the clock and free of charge, such as Vol.at