In Lithuania, 'befrienders’ ease loneliness
How Lithuania more than halved its suicide rate with helplines and other community-based approaches
by Marylou Costa
02 Feb 2026Loading component...
Taking phone calls from strangers wanting to share their life stories is not part of the typical job description for a nonprofit founder. But for Marius Čiuželis, it’s all in a day’s work. In 2016, he and his wife, Kristina, started Sidabrinė Linija, or Silver Line, an organization that offers free support to isolated older adults in Lithuania through regular phone calls with a “befriender” matched to their interests.
“On the first day we spoke for 10 minutes. The next time we spoke for nearly an hour, and she shared a lot about her life,” recalls Čiuželis, a member of the Rotary Club of Vilnius Lituanica International from 2019 to 2023. “Her husband of 50 years died about six years ago, and she has no children. She is completely alone and in poor health. A social worker visits twice a week, but otherwise she’s basically locked in her house because she can’t move.”
Čiuželis says they discussed what bread she likes to eat and what kind of dessert he could bring if he visited. “She’s an extremely lonely woman who just wanted someone to talk to, like many elderly people, who don’t necessarily want to talk about big philosophies, just day-to-day things, rather than listen to the radio or watch TV all day.”
Marius Čiuželis co-founded the Sidabrinė Linija nonprofit with his wife, Kristina.
Image credit: Marius Čiuželis
Sidabrinė Linija, which has befriended 6,000 older adults since its inception, has been just one of the many pieces of the puzzle to reduce Lithuania’s suicide rate, which is particularly high among older people due to a combination of isolation and a culture of keeping mental health issues bottled up. Older adults, according to Čiuželis, account for more than 39 percent of all deaths by suicide.
In Lithuania, Čiuželis explains, asking for mental health support is still viewed with shame, particularly for older citizens who experienced Lithuania’s Soviet rule from the 1940s to 1990. Economic and political instability followed, which caused high levels of unemployment, inflation, and poverty.
“Many of those people are afraid that if they see a psychologist, especially if they live in a small, rural area, everyone will know their personal problems,” says Čiuželis. “The alternative is they are given a prescription for medicine, but it’s not what they need. We feel it’s important to encourage them to open up and talk — and once we build trust, we can refer someone to professional support, if needed.”
Sidabrinė Linija has received funding from the Lithuanian government as part of mounting efforts over the past 20 years to recognize the drivers behind the country’s high suicide rate and move away from a culture of hiding problems toward one where it’s considered OK to talk about them openly.
When Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, it recorded a suicide rate of around 44 per 100,000 residents, one of the highest in the region. Since then, it has worked to reduce its suicide rate, which is now at about 19 people per 100,000.
In 2007, the Lithuanian government published its first National Mental Health Strategy, followed by the launch of its Suicide Prevention Bureau in 2015 and a Suicide Prevention Action Plan in 2016 with an emphasis on providing more community-based services and shifting away from an overly medicalized approach.
A national suicide prevention algorithm was launched in 2018 across all medical and social services to more easily identify at-risk individuals and offer specialist support. Last year, this algorithm led to 600 people receiving a full package of mental health support services and 1,200 undergoing comprehensive assessments, which is not insignificant in a country of just 2.9 million people.
Another cornerstone of Lithuania’s campaign has been its mental health ambassador program. Launched in 2022, this initiative has deployed 100 ambassadors across the country who share their stories of seeking help for thoughts of suicide, to change attitudes and behaviors around mental health.
A view of Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital
Image credit: Getty Images
More generally, accessible mental health support is also expanding nationwide. Since 2020, free psychological well-being services have been available at centers in every one of Lithuania’s 60 municipalities, providing drop-in access without a doctor’s referral. These centers serve over 30,000 people annually, addressing issues such as stress, depression, and anxiety, with the aim of offering support early, before someone’s mental health issues escalate into suicidal thoughts.
Beyond direct mental health interventions, stricter alcohol control laws have played a part. Tackling this has been crucial as alcohol use disorders correlate strongly with the highest-risk groups for suicide in Lithuania: middle-aged and older men in rural areas.
“We do have a lot of mental health problems compared with other countries, so we need unique solutions to solve them,” says Ignas Rubikas, head of the Lithuanian government’s mental health division.
“We have now destigmatized mental health so much that our specialists are becoming overworked,” Rubikas adds. “But I think that’s a good sign that we’re acknowledging and accepting the problems, and that we have taken the first step towards solving them at a systemic level.”
Another of those first steps is government-funded suicide prevention and intervention training for people to become “gatekeepers” who can more readily recognize and help someone who may have suicidal thoughts.
Nearly 1,400 of these gatekeepers, drawn from local first responders, medical staff, teachers, and other community leaders, were trained through a project by Lithuanian Rotarians. Supported by a $91,700 Rotary Foundation global grant, the project took place in nine communities from 2018 to 2020 and included the creation of local suicide prevention groups and additional psychological evaluations for at-risk individuals.
Sidabrinė Linija volunteers gather in a park. The nonprofit has befriended 6,000 older adults since its inception almost a decade ago.
Image credit: Marius Čiuželis
Throughout the country, around 10,000 people have become gatekeepers, half of whom have a mental health professional background. Among them is clinical psychologist Mantas Jeršovas, who has taken two free training programs — Safe Talk, a community-based program, and ASIST, or Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, a more advanced two-day course on how to engage in deeper conversations with someone who is having suicidal thoughts. He is now a trainer himself, delivering free programs several times a year.
Challenges continue. The Lithuanian government has committed to support the influx of around 42,000 Ukrainian refugees since the Russian invasion in 2022, offering counseling and group therapy services.
And Sidabrinė Linija’s Čiuželis wants to be sure the country’s older people are not being left behind amid an emphasis on digital services and online communication campaigns and what he perceives as an overall government mindset to prioritize the young at the expense of the old.
But amid the progress there’s optimism from gatekeeper Jeršovas. “The government is really taking the high suicide rate in Lithuania seriously, and the numbers are going down,” he says. “It’s important to recognize that it’s human to struggle when times are tough, but it’s possible to work through it, if people know they have support and are not alone.”
A version of this article was originally published by Reasons to be Cheerful, a nonprofit solutions journalism outlet. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health emergency, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S. by calling or texting 988 or going to 988lifeline.org. If you are outside the U.S., visit findahelpline.com to get connected with a service in your country.
This story originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of Rotary magazine.