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📸 photo credit: @miguelangel.vilar

Darkness into Light Belgium 2026 has raised €43,212 for the Community Help Service (CHS) Helpline, enough to cover almost all of the 24/7 service’s operating costs for a year.

The funds were raised through a campaign that culminated on May 9 with pre-dawn walks in Brussels, Ghent, and Tervuren. Hundreds of participants gathered before sunrise to remember loved ones lost to suicide and to walk in solidarity with all those affected by suicide, self-harm, and mental health challenges. Walking from darkness into the sunrise symbolises the journey from despair to hope.

Organised globally by Irish charity Pieta, Darkness into Light has become one of the world’s best-known fundraising and awareness initiatives for suicide prevention. Now in its ninth year in Belgium, the campaign supports the CHS Helpline, a free, confidential English-language service that provides emotional support to people experiencing loneliness, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

GROWING NEED FOR MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

The fundraising comes at a time of unprecedented demand for the Helpline, which offers a compassionate, non-judgemental listening ear to people facing some of the most difficult moments in their lives. During the first six months of 2026, calls from people seeking emotional support rose by 46% from the same period in 2025, while calls from people experiencing suicidal thoughts increased by 16%. The growing demand reflects a wider mental health challenge in Belgium. Almost one in five people experience mental health difficulties, while suicide remains one of the country’s leading causes of death among people aged 10 to 54.

Every CHS Helpline volunteer receives specialist training and ongoing supervision from mental health professionals, ensuring callers receive compassionate and confidential support whenever they reach out. Although the Helpline is staffed by volunteers, providing a safe and high-quality service still carries significant costs, and CHS depends entirely on donations to keep it running day and night.

CHS extends its heartfelt thanks to everyone who walked and donated in support of Darkness into Light Belgium 2026. We are especially grateful to Darkness into Light Belgium President Sarah Ironside, whose exceptional leadership, energy and commitment once again made the campaign such a success. Together with the dedicated committee that worked for months to organise the event, she has helped ensure that thousands of people will continue to have access to the CHS Helpline whenever they need someone to listen.

CHS also thanks Pieta for its continued partnership and for driving a movement that challenges the stigma surrounding suicide, and encourages people to talk openly about mental health and seek support.