The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has presented Hotline 024, Attention to Suicidal Behavior, with the motto “Calls to life”, which will work from tomorrow, May 10, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. week, 365 days a year.
Mental Health, added Darias, is a priority objective of the public policies of the Government of Spain and, therefore, is part of the Public Agenda to make visible, end the stigmas and taboos that exist around this reality and to break the silences that have weighed like slabs on her for years.
Line 024 will be free, accessible, immediate, confidential and will be staffed by experts, to support both people who may have suicidal behavior and their families and friends.
In addition, the 024 will be connected with the emergency services of the different autonomous communities and cities to help those whose suffering takes them to the limit of their strength, because, explained Darias, “a person with suicidal behavior does not want to die, but who wants to stop suffering”.
This has been revealed in the act held today, in the Royal Botanical Gardens, in which Dolors López, author of the book “I name you”; Fátima Cabello, deputy director of the Red Cross Health Knowledge Area; Nel González, president of the Spanish Mental Health Confederation; and that it has also had the presence, among other personalities, of the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo.
Suicide is the leading cause of external death in our country and the leading cause of death in young people and, according to INE data, in 2020 there were 3,491 deaths by suicide in Spain, which was 7.4% more than in 2019 The Minister of Health has underlined that the 024 telephone number is a commitment of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and a demand from society, which has increased in recent years.
For the development of Line 024, as well as future actions carried out in the area of suicide prevention, an Advisory Committee has been created, made up of experts from different areas, who will contribute experience and knowledge and taking into account all perspectives and all possible voices, the minister pointed out.
Experts will answer the phone 024
The Suicidal Behavior Hotline will have the participation of experts to intervene in complex high-risk situations. Thus, in a first phase, the telephone will be managed by the Red Cross, while the Ministry of Health continues with the definitive tender for the service. The 024 team will have a person in charge of the service, 11 supervisors and 26 operators, all of them with experience and knowledge in managing this type of intervention.
With the aim that all citizens can use the 024 in conditions of equality and non-discrimination, the telephone is adapted and will include a video interpreting service in sign language, as well as a telephone interpreting service that offers the solution to overcome the language barriers allowing communication in real time, with people who speak in another language.
The implementation of Line 024 is thus added to other initiatives of the Ministry of Health in the field of Mental Health, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialty, or the Mental Health Action Plan, endowed with 100 million euros, and which will be debated in the next plenary session of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS).
In this same sense, the Ministry of Health, together with the autonomous communities and cities, recently updated the Mental Health Strategy of the National Health System, with the participation of scientific societies, patient and family associations, who today also wanted to participate in the presentation of 024.
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