If right now is very bad
You stay alive tonight. That is the only task. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.
If there is immediate danger
112 — emergency number
If there is immediate danger to life — yours or someone else’s. Dispatches ambulance, police, fire.
24 hours, every day
Free from any phone, even with no credit and a locked keypad. The official page does not state which foreign languages are answered.
Emergency psychiatric care — Prof. N. Shipkovenski Centre, Sofia
Acute mental health crisis. Walk in, no appointment, any hour.
24 hours, 7 days a week
Psychiatric care is publicly funded, unlike psychotherapy. This is the practically free route to a doctor in an acute crisis.
If you need to talk to a person
116 111 — National child helpline
For children and young people. They listen, support and advise. You can just talk.
Phone: 24/7. Chat: every day 08:00 – 20:00
A state line, in Bulgarian. Not LGBT-specific — the consultants are trained listeners, but if you want someone who certainly understands, see Kabinet Daga below.
Kabinet Daga — free therapy for LGBT people
Free psychotherapy and emotional support specifically for LGBT people — and for their families, including parents struggling to accept.
Every working day 10:00 – 16:00
If you are under 18, written consent from a parent or guardian is required. Sessions are 45 minutes — by phone, video or in person.
Kabinet.bg — emergency psychotherapy
Up to 3 free 45-minute sessions for people at risk and in need. Same number as Kabinet Daga — say “Кабинет Дъга” if you are LGBT.
Phone: 10:00 – 16:00 on working days. Video and phone consultations: 08:00 – 20:00 on weekdays
Animus — hotline for people affected by violence
Domestic violence, sexual violence, human trafficking. Also for the families of those affected.
24 hours
This is NOT a toll-free number — it is charged as a normal call. Running since 1997.
If it is not urgent but it is heavy
Bilitis — online chat with a psychologist
Free anonymous chat with specialists, for LGBTI people of any age.
Monday – Friday, 18:00 – 22:00. Messages after 22:00 are answered the next day after 18:00
Write in Cyrillic — the chat does not accept transliterated Bulgarian. Bilitis publishes no phone number, so you will not find one here.
Single Step — online chat
Free anonymous emotional-support chat. They also run a network of psychologists trained to work with LGBTI people.
Every day 20:00 – 23:00. Outside those hours you can leave a message
A phone number for Single Step circulates online. It appears nowhere on their own site, so we do not publish it — we will not send you to a dead line on your worst night. The chat works.
Something you need to know about Bulgaria
Bulgaria has no 24-hour psychological helpline for adults. There isn’t one. 116 111 runs around the clock, but it is a line for children and young people. The LGBT chats run in the evening — Bilitis 18:00 to 22:00 on weekdays, Single Step 20:00 to 23:00 every day.
We are telling you now, because it is better to know than to call at three in the morning and conclude that nobody is coming. Nobody answers because the line is shut — not because you do not deserve an answer.
At three in the morning what remains is 112 and emergency psychiatric care. Both are open around the clock. Both are for you.
While you wait for someone to pick up
This solves nothing. Its only job is to keep you in the room until the sharpest part passes. It takes two minutes.
- 5Name 5 things you can see.
- 4Name 4 things you can touch. Touch them.
- 3Name 3 things you can hear.
- 2Name 2 things you can smell.
- 1Name 1 thing you can taste.
And slow your breathing
Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold for 4. Breathe out slowly for a count of 6. The out-breath must be longer than the in-breath — that is the part that settles the body. Repeat ten times.
Sometimes the brain simply will not stop and there is nothing to reason with. Then it helps to give it something daft and harmless to do for a few minutes.
Open the gamesIf you do not know what to say when they answer
“Hello. I am not okay and I do not know where to start.”
That is enough. They are trained for exactly this. You do not have to explain, justify, or sound convincing.
You can be silent. You can cry. You can hang up and call again.
One thing before you close this page
What you are feeling right now is unbearable. But it is a feeling, and feelings move — even when you are completely certain this one will not.
A lot of us have been exactly where you are. We thought there was no way out and that nobody understood. Then it passed. Not because anything magically resolved, but because we stayed long enough to end up on the other side of it.
Then you blink and you are ten years older, in your own home, next to someone you love. And it is good. It is good because one day you decided to stay.
You are not alone. You never were.
Read stories from people who were there