The same 25 people stood for two out of three calls to Livslinien.

Denmark (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland)

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Two out of three calls to Liveline were made by the same 25 people

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Perhaps users of Liveline, who take up a large portion of capacity, should be limited, says director.

Liveline is an anonymous telephone counseling service with specially trained counselors who answer calls from suicidal individuals. The telephone number is 70 201 201. (Photo: © Ida Marie Odgaard, Ritzau Scanpix)

By Ritzau ([email protected]) 26 min. ago

The same 25 people made 62% of the calls to the telephone counseling service Liveline over a period of 2.5 years.

This is shown by an analysis of nearly half a million calls to Liveline between 2019 and 2022, writes Politiken.

The study is published in the journal Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

The 25 people used a third of the counseling time in the period, shows the study.

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Resource pressure puts Liveline in an ethical dilemma

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At Liveline, there are a number of specially trained counselors who answer calls from suicidal individuals. In 2025, Liveline had 25,500 counseling sessions, writes Politiken.

The counselors, however, do not have the resources to answer calls from everyone who calls the number 70 201 201.

This means that only a fraction of the calls are answered, and that frequent users use time from thousands of other people who also call in.

Liveline's director, Jeppe Kristen Toft, first points out to Politiken that everyone has the right to reach out and be met, and that counseling will not block people who are in crisis.

However, after thinking about the matter, he returns to the newspaper.

- It could well be that we have to deviate from one of our ethical fundamental principles here. We are forced to reconsider whether some people should not have the same access to us, and whether we should limit them in some way to give access to even more, he says.

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Other countries block

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In some countries, calls from some of the most frequent users are blocked, so they cannot call again if they have received counseling, writes Politiken.

As part of a new psychiatry agreement, Liveline received a permanent grant in 2023, so it remains open 24/7. Until then, the counseling had been threatened with closure several times.

Interior and Health Minister Sophie Løhde (V), who presented the agreement in 2023, writes in a written response to Politiken, that "the fact that there are few people who often call Liveline should not mean that we close the possibility".

She also calls it sensible that Liveline works on various initiatives that can increase the number of people who get through to the counseling.

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