Children seek help with their darkest thoughts at night
Sunday 1st November 2026 on 14:15 in
Denmark
Children and young people often contact helplines with serious worries at night, including suicidal thoughts, DR reports. The counselling services BørneTelefonen and HØRT have been open around the clock for five years.
One 15-year-old girl was afraid and needed urgent help but did not want to wake her parents because she feared they would be angry. After harming herself and taking several painkillers, she contacted BørneTelefonen. A counsellor helped her call emergency services on 112 and stayed on the line until an ambulance arrived.
“At night, it is most often the difficult things children call about. They are sad and lonely, and some are dealing with self-harm and suicidal thoughts,” said Mia Giandrup Norlin, a BørneTelefonen counsellor who works nights.
Since the services became available around the clock, the number of conversations at night has risen every year. One in six inquiries comes in while most people are asleep. The services have received 44,826 inquiries from children and young people at night over the past five years.
“We received far more calls than we expected from the start, and the number has continued to rise,” said Rasmus Kjeldahl, director of Børns Vilkår.
Norlin usually starts work at 11pm and finishes at 5am. She said callers can be desperate, frustrated or angry, and that night conversations have a particular quality: “It is as if the two of you are the only ones awake.”
Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts featured in 21 per cent of conversations at night in 2025 and 2026, compared with 11 per cent during the day.
Several hundred times a year, a conversation is serious enough that a child or young person gives up their anonymity so the counsellor can provide further help, for example by calling 112 and arranging an ambulance. In such urgent situations, counsellors first discuss how the caller can get help, Norlin said.
Norlin said some conversations stay with her, especially those with children who are deeply upset and cannot see a way forward. She said she can hear them fighting to feel better and gradually becoming calmer during the call.
If you are in crisis or having suicidal thoughts, tell someone. Livslinien offers telephone counselling on 70 201 201 every day of the year from 9am to 5am.