SAHAI is Bangalore's telephone helpline for people in emotional distress.
Callers to SAHAI have found hope, understanding and a new way forward. SAHAI's team of committed volunteers include retired persons, teachers, homemakers, professionals and college students - people from all walks of life who are committed to saving lives. SAHAI volunteers undergo 30 hours of suicide prevention training conducted by professionals from NIMHANS and the Medico Pastoral Association, along with Rotary Bangalore east three of the help line's founding partners.
SAHAI gets calls from people from all walks of life and age groups:persons with relationship problems and career-related problems, professionals with employment-related issues.
Article on the high number of suicide cases in Bangalore:
http://www.mybangalore.com/article/0210/why-bangalore-is-the-suicide-capital-of-india.html
Excerpt from the website:
"The city of Bangalore is one of the fastest growing metropolis. The city has been registering increasing number of suicides over a period of time. The rapid social changes that Bangalore has undergone in the last few years are huge. It is common to read , hear or listen about suicides in the city on a day to day basis.
A 2002 study by Dr. G. Gururaj and Dr. Mohan Isaac of NIMHANS revealed there were some 2,000 reported deaths from suicide every year, averaging three to five a day. It is estimated that almost ten to fifteen times this number (20,000-30,000) people attempt suicide and fifty times more will be thinking of suicides in the city each year.Many cases go unreported because suicide is still treated as a criminal offence or because of the social stigma attached to it. "
If you want to help address the growing problem of suicide in Bangalore and would like to volunteer, please contact SAHAI(sahaihelpline@gmail.com). There's a training scheduled at the 13th(Friday) and 14th(Saturday) of this month.
http://www.sahaihelpline.org/index.html
It definitely feels like one should help in this, but the fear is "when you look too long into the abyss, the abyss starts looking into you." I have heard stories of psychiatrists that got so involved into their cases that they ended up on the mental-deranged side themselves. does the training have lessons to handle that effect on the trainer?
ReplyDeleteBTW, I didn't know this training happens in NIMHANS. If somebody throws up a stone in NIMHANS, high chances it will land on me.. :)
Sure, there are extreme cases, similar to the burn out that some IT professionals suffer, but I don't think that's the case here. I attended the training the last two days. At the helpline, we're not required to provide therapy. We're only expected to provide a listening ear - empathic, non-judgemental - and in this regard we're trained thoroughly. We were told that in most of the cases, people only want someone to listen to them, help them ventilate.
ReplyDeleteI'm only done with the theory. I begin my 'practice' next week and I have to complete 100 hours of practicals to certify - only then will I be trusted to be able to handle the phone on my own :)
The training actually happens at MPA(Medico Pastoral Association) at Frazer town. But we had a psychiatrist from Nimhans training us.
ReplyDeleteSorry to belabour on this madam. Is this like NGO and the volunteers are working for a charity cause? I just want to know if this is like a full-time occupation or just an undercurrent activity along with our other profession? Maybe I should mail sahaihelpline directly?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's an NGO and is voluntary. Volunteers work on shifts once or twice a week, whichever day they're comfortable with(The helpline works Mon-Sat from 10AM to 5PM). However, it does require consistency and commitment w.r.t time.
ReplyDeleteYou can mail them directly and also check out www.sahaihelpline.org