Lonely and looking for help

amersfoort - The number of lonely people searching for a telephone helpline is increasing rapidly. The last two months doubled the number of lone callers (1270) over the same period last year.

The total number of callers to the guides also increases explosively. Never before have the more than one thousand volunteers answered as many calls as in August this year: no less than 20,762. That is an increase of more than 10 percent over the same month in 2016. A shortage of well-trained volunteers threatens. The largest telephone counselor in our country, Sensoor, shares these figures at the request of De Telegraaf. The emergency service, which is paid by the Association of Dutch Municipalities and the Orange Fund, carries more than 250,000 talks each year.

Striking is a sharp increase in the number of men under the age of 30 seeking help. Their share of the relief questions increased by 20 percent. 'We often hear that these men are afraid to stay in love because they get few new contacts because of social media,' says Monique van Bijsterveld, director of Sensoor.

Read more (premium): Massive need for more contact