Suicide Hotlines and Crisis Lines in Brazil

A helpline is a place to talk to someone when you are struggling, before or instead of a crisis. The lines on this page are answered by trained volunteers, listeners or public services, depending on the service. If you are not in Brazil, the worldwide list is organised by country.

What you share is kept private in almost all cases; if a counsellor believes a life is in immediate danger, they may arrange urgent help. What each service costs is set out beside it below. Anatel, the national telecoms regulator, states that all calls to the public emergency short codes, including 188, are free.

TherapyRoute is a directory. We do not answer calls or messages ourselves, so please use the numbers below rather than contacting us if you need someone now.

CRISIS LINES, SUICIDE HOTLINES, AND HELPLINES IN BRAZIL

Each number below was checked in August 2026 at the operating organisation's own website, at the federal government page that runs the service, or at Anatel, the national telecoms regulator.

Notice an error or a missing service? Please tell us so we can correct it.

Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

CVV – Centro de Valorização da Vida, 188, day and night

Pode Falar, for ages 13 to 24

Narcóticos Anônimos Brasil, Linha de Ajuda 132

Ligue 180, for women facing violence

CAPS, the public mental health centres

While you are waiting to be answered

If you are worried about someone else

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Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

Brazil runs separate short codes for each emergency service. All three are listed by Anatel, the national telecoms regulator, in its table of public emergency services.

Police (Polícia Militar): 190

Ambulance (SAMU, Serviço de Atendimento Médico de Urgência): 192

Fire brigade (Corpo de Bombeiros): 193

Anatel states, of the codes in that table: "Todas as chamadas para os serviços públicos de emergência são gratuitas", that is, all calls to the public emergency services are free. The suicide prevention line 188, listed there as Linha da Vida, sits in the same table, so its free-call status is set by the regulator and not only claimed by the organisation that answers it.

CVV – Centro de Valorização da Vida, 188, day and night

CVV – Centro de Valorização da Vida is a volunteer-run emotional support and suicide prevention service founded in São Paulo in 1962. It describes itself as independent of any religious, party-political or corporate affiliation. Calls are answered by a trained volunteer.

In its own words: "Você pode conversar com um voluntário do CVV ligando para 188 de todo o território nacional, 24 horas todos os dias de forma gratuita." That is, you can talk to a CVV volunteer on 188 from anywhere in the national territory, 24 hours every day, free of charge. The Ministry of Health confirms the call is free from any landline or mobile.

On privacy, CVV's own page for the 188 line says you are answered "com respeito, anonimato", by a volunteer "que guardará estrito sigilo sobre tudo que for dito", that is, with respect and anonymity, by a volunteer who will keep strict confidentiality about everything said. That is CVV's own undertaking, in its own words.

Tel: 188, answered 24 hours a day, at no call cost.

Chat: at cvv.org.br/chat. The chat keeps narrower hours than the phone line: Mondays to Fridays 08h to 00h, Saturdays 13h to 00h, Sundays 15h to 00h.

Email: apoioemocional@cvv.org.br. CVV states that email support is not immediate and that messages are answered as soon as possible.

In person: CVV runs walk-in posts in 19 states and the Distrito Federal, listed by state on its website. The 188 phone line is national regardless of whether your state has a post.

Pode Falar, for ages 13 to 24

Pode Falar is a virtual listening channel for young people, run since 2021 by UNICEF and the Núcleo do Cuidado Humano at the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, now in partnership with the Ministry of Health. It is for a specific age group: its site states "Atendimento para pessoas entre 13 e 24 anos", service for people aged 13 to 24.

It is not a phone line and it is not open at night. Its published hours are "De segunda a sábado, exceto feriados", "Das 8h às 22h, horário de Brasília": Monday to Saturday, except public holidays, from 8h to 22h Brasília time. Conversations happen on WhatsApp, Telegram or the website, with trained university students answering.

Pode Falar's own site does not publish a cost. UNICEF, which co-operates the service, describes it as working "de forma anônima e gratuita", anonymously and free of charge.

WhatsApp: +55 61 9660-8843

Telegram: @canalPodeFalar_bot

Web: podefalar.org.br

Hours: Monday to Saturday, except public holidays, 8h to 22h Brasília time. Closed on Sundays.

Narcóticos Anônimos Brasil, Linha de Ajuda 132

Narcóticos Anônimos Brasil runs a national helpline, headed on its own page "Linha de Ajuda Nacional", for people affected by drug use and for their families. Volunteers answer. Behind the national number, the organisation lists a separate helpline number for each of the 27 federative units on its website.

Tel: 132

Hours: not published. The organisation's own page does not state when the line is answered.

Cost: not published. 132 appears in Anatel's national code table, but the organisation itself publishes no cost for the call.

Ligue 180, for women facing violence

Ligue 180, the Central de Atendimento à Mulher, is run by the Ministério das Mulheres. It is not a mental health service: it is the federal government's information, guidance and reporting line for violence against women. It is included here because it is national, free, and answered at every hour.

In the ministry's words: "A ligação é gratuita e o serviço funciona 24 horas por dia, todos os dias da semana", the call is free and the service operates 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Calls can be made from anywhere in Brazil. A Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) service is also offered.

The service's own page directs emergencies elsewhere: "Em casos de emergência, deve ser acionada a Polícia Militar, por meio do 190." In an emergency, call the Military Police on 190.

Tel: 180

WhatsApp: (61) 9610-0180

Email: central180@mulheres.gov.br

Hours: 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

Cost: free, in the ministry's own words.

CAPS, the public mental health centres

The Centros de Atenção Psicossocial, or CAPS, are not a helpline. They are the public mental health centres of the SUS, and they are where ongoing public mental health care in Brazil actually happens. The Ministry of Health describes them as open to the community and as receiving people in intense psychological distress, including distress related to harmful use of alcohol and other drugs.

Two things about CAPS are worth knowing before you go. First, they are free: the ministry states that all routes to a CAPS are "gratuitos pelo SUS". Second, you do not need an appointment for a first visit. In the ministry's words, "os CAPS funcionam em regime de porta aberta", an open-door regime, "não é preciso marcar consulta para o primeiro acolhimento": no appointment is needed for the first intake.

Some CAPS stay open overnight. The ministry's table lists CAPS III and CAPSad III as operating 24 hours, including weekends and holidays, with overnight care, in municipalities above 150 thousand inhabitants. Smaller cities have CAPS I or II, which keep daytime hours.

To find your nearest CAPS, the ministry's guidance is to contact the Secretaria de Saúde of your municipality, or to ask at the Unidade Básica de Saúde (UBS) in your area. No national online locator is linked here because we could not verify one.

While you are waiting to be answered

The 188 line is answered day and night, but a line that is open can still be busy. If you are waiting, try to stay with someone you trust, or ask someone to sit with you until the call connects.

If you have anything near you that you could use to harm yourself, put it somewhere harder to reach, or ask someone else to hold it for you. Distance and time both help.

If waiting is not possible, dial 190 or 192, or go to a hospital emergency department. You do not need an appointment and you do not need to explain yourself well.

If you are worried about someone else

Ask them directly. Asking someone whether they are thinking of suicide does not put the idea there, and it often comes as a relief to be asked plainly.

Listen more than you advise. You do not need the right words, and you are not expected to fix anything.

If they are willing, offer to sit with them while they call one of the numbers above, or to make the call together. If they are in immediate danger, treat it as you would any medical emergency.

Supporting someone through this is heavy, and it is reasonable to want support of your own. The same lines are open to you.

For services in other countries, see the list of helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide.

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