AgenPress. I am almost 115 thousand le requests for help received by Telefono Amico Italia in 2023, over 300 per day. The listening service, above all, is growing Whatsapp (+14% compared to 2022) and that goes e-mail (+10%), although the telephone listening service remains the most used with over 100 thousand calls in the last year.
Numbers that testify to a continuous increase in psychological distress, but also a greater propensity to recognize it and quickly ask for help.
«If the mental pain is overwhelming, it is essential to immediately ask for help from a professional, but quickly recognizing a situation of discomfort allows you to implement “self-defense” strategies to prevent the situation from degenerating – explains the president of Telephone Friend Italy Monica Petra commenting i annual data released by the organization of volunteering. «In these moments – he adds – to manage the daily burden of difficulties and worries, it can be very helpful to dedicate ourselves to an activity that excites us or relaxes us». Precisely to help people find creative methods to prevent situations of discomfort, on the occasion of World Creativity DayThe April 21stTelefono Amico Italia launches the social challenge curArti : all users are invited to publish photos, videos and content on social channels about their personal way of taking care of themselves through creativity, art, music and free time. Alongside Telefono Amico Italia, there is also a launch of this challenge The Sad, on the front line to give voice, through music and beyond, to discomfort and fragility. The message of the punk group is to try, through one’s passions, to transform pain into an opportunity for growth. «Thanks to music we managed to exorcise suffering and overcome a very dark period in our lives. By supporting this challenge we also want to help other people to find a method in the world of creativity to face the most difficult moments and to prevent situations of discomfort and discomfort”, explain Theø, Plant and Fiks, the three members of the band.
«Art and music can do a lot: they are languages through which it is often easier to recognize and give vent to one’s pain, especially for the younger ones – adds Petra – We had evidence of this during Sanremo, when, thanks to La Sad, we were able to bring issues such as mental distress and suicide to such an important stage. The response was exceptional, a sign that people, especially young people, need to discuss and give space to these issues, even through “lighter” forms of language such as music and art in general.»
TELEFONO AMICO ITALIA 2023 DATA. In 2023, thanks to more than 600 volunteers, the telephone service of Telefono Amico Italia (reachable on 02 2327 2327) has managed over 100 thousand calls, WhatsApp Friend (number 324 011 7252) 11,300 chats and the service emails over 2,300 requests for help received by completing the anonymous form on the website www.telefonoamico.it.
The telephone service was used mostly by men (54%) and people between 56 and 67 years (26%), between 46 and 55 years (23%), and between 36 and 45 years (18%). Over the majority (58%) called for problems related to the self area, while 19% called for problems related to relationships and 9% to sexuality.
As regards the WhatsApp and Mail services, the user profile changes considerably: those who write are mainly women (Whatsapp 64%, email 69%) and young people. Those who turn to Whatsapp are between 26 and 35 years old (22%), between 19 and 25 (20.5%) and between 15 and 18 (18%); those who write to Mail@mica are between 19 and 25 years old (20%), between 26 and 35 years old (19%), between 36 and 45 (13%). In both services, the most frequent problems are those related to the self area (Whatsapp 61%, email 64%) and those related to relationships (Whatsapp 26.5%, email 23%).
HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF? The curArti social challenge is the extension of an initiative launched by Telefono Amico Italia last September, on the occasion of Suicide Prevention Day, when in 20 Italian squares volunteers asked passers-by to leave a note in response to the request “How do you take care of yourself in a difficult moment?”. «The responses were very interesting – says the president of the voluntary organization – we discovered that the most varied activities are used to recharge and face difficult moments. We now want to involve even more people with this social activation, which also aims to be a way to suggest possible ideas to those who have not yet found their personal “healing” activity.”
The majority (the 28%) of the participants in the September 2023 street event indicated the dialogue with others as the main way to cope with difficult times, whether with friends, family, partners or professionals. The 24% of people, seeks within himself the strength to overcome difficulties through moments of reflection and positive thoughts. In third place, both with the 15% of the answers, we find the sports practice and the search for contact with nature or their animals and the use of concrete activities, more or less daily (among others cooking, body care, travel, volunteering, hobbies, work). To follow, with the 13% of the answers, the world of art, among which music and reading stand out above all, followed by cinema, painting and writing. Finally, the 5% of people relies on spirituality, resorting to prayer or meditation.
Tags: Telefono Amico growing psychological discomfort calls day
