SUKOON Helpline for Mental ailments; 2746 patients treated in Pulwama

Pulwama: District Administration’s initiative SUKOON to treat and counsel patients with pre existing mental health problems such as anxiety , depression , bipolar disorders, OCD , paranoia and other mental ailments witnessed a huge flow of calls for Tele – Psychiatry consultations.
District Magistrate(DM) Dr . Raghav Langer, while taking a review of the functioning of Helpline said the people who have had mental health problems may be at greater risk if unable to take precautions or unable to seek timely consultations. He said helpline has proved effective in the management of people, suffering from severe mental illness.
Tele – Psychiatry clinics are playing a vital role in enhancing motivation and dispelling fear amid COVID-19 crises, he added.
During the pandemic hundreds have been comforted by reassuring them that pandemic crisis is real but not permanent and can be averted by cultivating hope, he further said.
DM urged the people to take benefit of the initiative, which is easy to access.
He added that around 2746 counseling and treatment sessions through audio – video calls and WhatsApp messaging have been completed so far.
He said the District Mental Health Team is also rolling out a questionnaire to self assess the level of anxiety among people in the current pandemic and team will infer whether any active intervention is needed not.
Consultant, District Mental Health centre, Pulwama said “in current pandemic District Mental Health Center Pulwama played its role by providing counseling and mental health care to people in isolation and quarantine. In addition, we tried our best not to affect the care of our mental health service recipients by being available to them online and over phone to provide advice and treatment”, he added.
“Further, we managed mental health emergencies at District Hospital Pulwama and provided services without interruption for patients registered in “Long Acting Antipsychotic Clinic.
Timely mental health response in District Pulwama is innovative and one of the earliest in the whole country”, said the consultant.
He further added that scores of people feeling ocstrcized after being discharged from quarantine centres are being counselled and rehabilitated successfully.
The District Mental Health (DMHC) centre is a team of professionals comprising of Dr. Majid consultant psychiatrist, Dr Umer , medical officer, Mir. Altaf, clinical psychologist, Nadia, psychiatric social worker, Saima, community psychiatric nurse, Shereena, record keeper and Naveed Raina, Programme Manager, DMHP. The team is supported by Azharuddin, counselor NCD and Hassanain, clinical psychologist DEIC.
The team appealed people to feel free in having Tele-Psychiatric consultations on the umbers 01933240205, 9596049186, 9149864070, from Monday to Friday.