How Lithuania More Than Halved Its Suicide Rate
How Lithuania More Than Halved Its Suicide Rate T aking phone calls from a 90-year-old woman you’ve never met is not typically in a co-founder’s job description. 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, a nonprofit that offers free support to isolated seniors 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 with me,” recalls Čiuželis from his office in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. “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 ever visited her. “She’s an extrem…
