Why Brazil Turns Yellow Every September: A Nation’s Fight Against Suicide Stigma

Every day, 38 Brazilians take their own lives. Since 2013, every September, the country turns yellow to highlight the urgency of this number and expand the conversation around mental health. The “Yellow September” campaign has become one of the largest global initiatives against the stigma surrounding suicide.

Yet the topic remains globally neglected: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide claims more lives than AIDS, malaria, and breast cancer, but only 38 out of approximately 194 countries promote national prevention campaigns. In Brazil, the most concrete response to these statistics has been listening. 

More than numbers, these are interrupted stories that call for compassion. It’s in the space between silence and a cry for help that initiatives like the Center for Valuing Life (CVV) emerge—a national reference in emotional support and suicide prevention.

CVV Hotline: A Safe Space to Be Heard

Loneliness. We are solitary beings. We’re even born alone. Sometimes we go through good or bad moments, but we don’t always have someone to talk to. This is just one of the situations experienced by CVV’s on-call volunteers, part of a global network of similar centers.

Early Saturday morning. Most people in Brazil are asleep, but Alan Lima, for the past eight years, remains available to answer calls to 188. On the other end of the line, a voice may belong to someone with insomnia, someone lonely, with no one to share life’s difficulties with—or someone experiencing suicidal thoughts. 

Alan explains that he’s received calls from people so lonely they simply wanted to share a joyful life experience but had no one to talk to. He also has a paid profession, but dedicates himself to giving lectures and serving as a spokesperson for the Center for Valuing Life.

Like Alan, CVV Brazil’s volunteers are ordinary people. You don’t need to be a healthcare professional or have specific training to volunteer—just the willingness to listen. After a few weeks of training, volunteers begin answering calls and hearing stories, initially supervised by a more experienced colleague. 

One weekly shift is the minimum requirement. During months when mental health is more widely discussed—like September, thanks to the national “Yellow September” campaign—there’s a need to reinforce the team handling calls.

Volunteers attend monthly support meetings to share experiences and continue their training. Most work remotely, answering calls via software on a computer. Some members even live outside Brazil and still provide services. 

Support is also available via chat, email, and in-person. Across the country, there are 90 physical service centers. Across all platforms, 3,360 volunteers rotate shifts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the first half of 2025, CVV received over 1.2 million calls.

Search platforms like Google and even Instagram help guide people to the organization. For example, if we come across content showing signs of distress, we can anonymously report it (via the “three dots” on Instagram), prompting CVV to reach out and offer help. 

Volunteers have noticed that AI chat platforms, when detecting users trying to use them as “therapists” or expressing suicidal thoughts, have also started suggesting calling 188.

Despite all the benefits CVV provides to society, it receives no government or private funding, surviving solely on volunteer labor and donations to maintain its structure. Most of the financial donations come from… the volunteers themselves! (Yes, besides their time and dedication, they also donate money.) 

The institution, now 73 years old, handled 2.7 million calls in 2024. Beyond the hotline, it’s active on social media and offers over 100 free podcasts on mental health and suicide.

More recently, the organization joined TikTok to reach younger audiences and promote suicide prevention among them. 

With a calm and steady voice, Alan explains that suicide and mental health remain taboos in Brazilian and global society. Often, simply having someone to talk to is already a way to prevent worse outcomes.

It’s quiet work that may seem small, but it holds the immense power of meaningful social support. 

CVV Brazil is part of Befrienders, a global organization.