HYDERABAD: When a 14-year-old girl searched ‘poison’ on Google, a helpline number popped up on her screen. Thinking that it is the number of the company that provides poison, she rang up and asked them if the poison was authentic enough to end her life. The enquiry call then turned into a befriending one and volunteers at ‘roshini’ were able to save her life. This was one among the 30-40 calls ‘roshini’ receives per day of which 15 percent of the calls are regarding suicide.
On September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, experts are calling all stakeholders for collective action to create hope among persons who have suicidal thoughts. In order to create awareness about suicide prevention, ‘roshini’, a Hyderabad-based voluntary organisation which also runs a free helpline, has organised a programme at the Botanical Gardens in Kondapur on Sunday.
“Suicide is not a wish to die but a cry for help. Anyone who calls our helpline before committing suicide is actually looking for help to ease their pain,” said Vidya, a volunteer at ‘roshini’ helpline centre. She added that people from 8 to 80 years of age, from all professions call asking for help complaining about studies, work pressure, broken relationships, physical or emotional abuse, health problems, isolation and various other reasons. The suicide rate in Telangana stands at 27.7 per one lakh population, almost double than the national average of 12.7. People call not only from Telangana but also from different states, especially where helpline numbers are not very popular.
Concerning student suicides
Speaking to TNIE, the volunteers also highlighted the high number of suicides among students. “Along with academic stress, peer pressure, relationship issues and family problems, the pressure put by parents on students seems to be the most important concern for students committing suicides,” said Nirmala, another volunteer.
It has also been observed that even though educational institutions have counsellors, students are afraid to approach them as the counsellors have to inform the head of the institution whenever a student approaches to complain regarding something. “When we visit schools and colleges in our outreach programme, students open up to us. Few also share our numbers with their mothers asking them to call seeking help from abusive fathers,” Nirmala added.
The volunteers emphasised that in order to prevent suicides, we all have to be the stakeholders first by recognising the signs that a person needs help and then reaching helpline numbers or counsellors.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. In case you feel distressed by the content or know someone in distress, call Roshini helpline- 8142020033 or 8142020044 (11am to 9pm)