Yellow September 2026: listening is being present

If you are thinking about taking your own life, or fear for someone close to you, call CVV (Centro de Valorização da Vida, Brazil's emotional support service) now, at 188. The call is free, confidential and answered 24 hours a day. There is also a chat at cvv.org.br. In an emergency, SAMU (the emergency ambulance service) answers at 192.

Yellow September (Setembro Amarelo) is suicide prevention month in Brazil. Since September 2025, it has been federal law. In 2026, the Centro de Valorização da Vida opened the campaign with the theme "Listening is being present" (Escutar é estar presente), a reminder that listening attentively and without judgment can be the step that brings someone closer to help.

What happened

The campaign was born in 2014 in civil society, on the initiative of the Brazilian Psychiatric Association and the Federal Council of Medicine, and today uses the motto "If you need it, ask for help!". On September 8, 2025, Law 15,199 was signed, establishing the Yellow September campaign nationwide, every year, and creating two national days: September 10, for suicide prevention, and September 17, for self-harm prevention. The law provides for actions to inform about risks, guide people to support and treatment resources and strengthen care and welcome.

In reporting on the law, Agência Brasil noted that the country had more than 16,800 deaths by suicide in 2023, about 46 a day, and that cases grew 66.47% between 2013 and 2023.

On September 1, 2026, CVV launched the year's campaign. The text speaks of fast-paced routines and relationships increasingly mediated by technology, and defends listening as the first step. According to the newspaper A Crítica, CVV provided about 2 million support conversations in 2025, an average of 5,500 conversations a day, with trained volunteers. The 188 line is free and has operated throughout Brazil since July 2018, according to CVV itself.

Why it matters

The law gives Yellow September the weight of public policy. But CVV's theme is a reminder that prevention does not happen only in campaigns: it happens in a conversation at home, at work, at school, when someone stops and truly asks how the other person is.

Those who suffer do not always want a ready-made solution. Often they want to be heard without being judged. And the request for help usually comes in disguise: a disappearance, a stray remark, a strange goodbye. Listening also means paying attention to that.

In Bairo's view

Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez says he has been at rock bottom, broke and not knowing how to get back up. In his reading, what makes the difference at that moment is not being alone, and that is why this year's theme speaks so closely to his story. He credits faith with lifting him back up, and the pages that tell his story are a reminder that faith and the doctor's office fit in the same life. The pages on pain, faith and reconnection tell that path, and when to seek professional help lists the signs that cannot wait.

For Bairo, health technology is only justified if it brings people closer to human care. At Hospital Triage, the clinical assistant listens and organizes, a professional validates and decides, and at any sign of risk the conversation stops and shows 188 and 192. At Xperienc Global Labs, the clinical second opinion brings an extra set of eyes to the doctor who follows the person. Neither replaces a human voice on the other end of the line.

Where this meets the ecosystem

Hospital Triage has a fixed rule: when the person describes something that may indicate risk, the assistant does not try to resolve it and points to the human door, CVV 188 and 192. The system is at the prototype stage. CLAIN, the agent orchestrator that created it, starts from the idea that AI is an extension of the human, not its replacement.

Sources

• Presidency of the Republic, Law 15,199 of 9/8/2025: planalto.gov.br
• Agência Brasil, "Governo institui dias de prevenção do suicídio e da automutilação" (Government establishes suicide and self-harm prevention days), 9/11/2025: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br
• CVV, "Escutar é estar presente" (Listening is being present), 9/1/2026: cvv.org.br
• Cremerj, "Setembro Amarelo: campanha combate estigma relacionado à saúde mental" (Yellow September: campaign fights stigma related to mental health), 9/8/2026: portal.cremerj.org.br
• A Crítica, "CVV fez 2 milhões de atendimentos e abre o Setembro Amarelo" (CVV handled 2 million calls and opens Yellow September), 9/1/2026: acritica.net

Read also

• When to seek professional help
• How to have faith when everything goes wrong
• Mental health sick leave: 546,000 in 2025