Silver telephone: "A hotline against loneliness"

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

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Lonely seniors in Berlin have been able to call the silver phone since September 2018 - just to talk. The initiator and first chairman of the board, Elke Schilling, explains in a interview why the lines in the headquarters run hot, especially at Christmas.

Graduate mathematician Elke Schilling

Elke Schilling is 74 years old, a graduate mathematician, ex-State Secretary and organizational consultant. For 12 years she has been working as a volunteer on a crisis hotline and as a senior representative in Berlin Mitte. In 2014 she traveled to London and got to know the “Silver Line” there. Following this example, she and partners built the silver network. (Image: camcop media Andreas Klug)

Ms. Schilling, there has been a silver telephone in Berlin since September. What is it exactly?

We are a kind of hotline against loneliness. Older and lonely Berliners can reach someone to talk to on a free number. We offer ourselves to listen, to start a conversation and thus take part in the life of the elderly to a certain extent.

So people also get in touch who have no specific problems, but just want to talk?

Exactly! That is our motto. Having no one to talk to is no small matter. That is, to a certain extent, social death.

Who is calling the silver phone?

It is above all people over the age of 60 who are looking for someone to talk to with us. It is often about everyday topics, such as the morning water level message: 'Hello, I'm fine and these are my plans for today'. But it can also be a pressing problem that weighs heavily on the soul.

Which problems are particularly common?

Loss of contact with children is a common theme. The children often live hundreds of kilometers away and are involved in their own needs. Parents are reluctant to tell their children the same stories over and over again on the phone. But they rarely experience a lot of exciting things.

Fortunately, there are also plenty of fun-loving, active seniors.

Of course, many are well integrated and get along well! But at some point, loneliness can fall on their feet too. Especially when mobility decreases. For example, one caller reported that she was fit and independent before she fell. She was in control of her life. Then it was suddenly different.

What happened?

The women were released from the hospital but still needed help. She was at home alone, couldn't help herself. She didn't know who to turn to or where to get help. Many older people have this knowledge deficit. And that's where we can mediate.

During your test run at Christmas time a year ago, almost 200 people called. Why is the need so great?

Younger people have day-to-day contacts through their jobs and studies. You can build on this if you slide into solitude. It's harder for older people. Once they slide into solitude, it gets harder and harder. Everyday contacts are rarer and it is more time-consuming to come into contact with other people. To do this, you have to be active.

And that is difficult for many.

Exactly. Making new contacts takes courage. And this courage wanes when you are alone for a long time. It takes a lot of self-conquest and strength to pull yourself out of a hole of loneliness. Especially when I'm older, when I'm no longer as mobile or when I'm psychologically cracked - maybe because of the death of my partner - it's incredibly difficult.

Loneliness is especially hard to bear at Christmas.

Christmas is the feast of the family, of the community. It is particularly painful when you are alone and have no one. This year we're at the start with 20 volunteers so that nobody has to be lonely. Because some of our volunteers would also be alone at Christmas. The prevention of loneliness works in both directions. A real win-win situation.

Not to mention Christmas: is the silver telephone enough to get older people out of their loneliness?

The phone is the first and often available point of contact. Then our silver net friends come into play. These are volunteers who establish a casual relationship with an elderly person over the phone. Once a week they talk to each other and exchange ideas.

The rest of the week, however, the people are still alone.

The Silbernetz-Freunde can arrange suitable offers for senior citizens in the Kiez upon request. One statistic says that around 40 percent of older people - regardless of their education and bank balance - do not know what offers are available for them in their area. The Silbernetz friends know them well and know what suits them.

Who is picking up the phone at your place?

We currently have five permanent employees on the silver telephone. These are older, severely disabled people who have been unemployed for a long time. You will be trained accordingly by us. We give them the chance to return to the job market with appropriate support. We receive funding for this. And we still have needs. We want to manned the phone around the clock, we are still missing about ten people.

The offer is for Berliners. What about the rest of Germany?

This is our plan for 2019. We get inquiries from all over Germany, from people who want to participate.Next year we want to sound out how we can expand the structure of the organization to the other federal states. Then we need people there too!

Contact:

Berliners can reach the silver telephone on: 0800 470 80 90, daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Further information on the project: www.silbernetz.org

Christmas office hours: from December 24th, 2018 from 8 a.m. to January 1st, 2019, around the clock

For crisis situations throughout Germany: Telephone counseling on 0800 111 0 111

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