A telephone counselling service for adults who were abused or neglected as children, is to extend its opening hours over the Christmas period.

Connect Counselling is a free out-of-hours telephone counseling and support service for adults who were abused, traumatised or neglected as children.

Connect is funded by the HSE and is usually open from 6pm to 10pm, Wednesday to Sunday. However, it has announced that until January 3, 2016, it will open from 6-10pm every night.

According to Connect's director, Theresa Merrigan, Christmas can be a very emotional time for many and this usually leads to a greater demand in services.

The total number of calls made to Connect between January and November of this year was 8,113. By year end, the service expects to have received around 9,000 calls - a 25% increase on 2014's figure. Over half of these calls have come from first-time callers.

If you would like to speak to Connect, call 1800 477 477, or click here for more information.