“Tamil Nadu has the highest suicide rates, especially among the youth in the age group of 15 to 29,” says Sashi Chandran. She is CEO of Nitya Gurukula, that is into psychological counselling and conducts workshops on emotional well-being, transactional analysis, and Tai Chi. And this gave her insight into mental health and the serious consequences of not addressing the very real problem.
The alarming numbers of young people taking their own lives prompted Sashi to form Prana, a suicide prevention lifeline. Prana was set up by NG Chandran Charities, an NGO established in July 2019, with the International Association of Suicide Prevention (IASP), under the World Health Organization (WHO).
In most cases, it is ‘frustrated intolerance’ that drives young people to take the extreme step, says Sashi. “It could be anything from disappointment in love, inability to achieve grades in academics, not getting admission into a premier institution or failure to land a job...” Sashi says a lot of it has to do with the blame game we indulge in. “The way we communicate with our children has to change,” she says.
- The ‘Prana’ lifeline, 1800-121-203040, can be accessed from anywhere in India. It is available from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm on all days except Sunday.
- The calls will be attended by trained counsellors and volunteers supervised by Nitya Gurukula. Counsellors speak in English and Tamil as of now. There is a move to bring on board multilingual volunteers.
Prana went live on February 19 and already it has received over 70 calls.
“Most callers sought help on relationship issues,” says Sudha Sundaram, COO of Nitya Gurukula that trains the counsellors. “Besides parts of Tamil Nadu, we also got calls from Mumbai, Bengaluru, and parts of Jammu & Kashmir. Some wanted help in coping with a break-up; some of the callers who were staying away from family on account of their jobs, wanted help with stress; then there were those suffering mid-life crises or loneliness in their old age. Prana is not just a mere helpline but a lifeline where we listen to their problems and guide them with positive psychology. It builds hope and motivates those seeking help stay optimistic. It makes them resilient and confident too.”