Suicide Prevention Helpline established for the first time in Kashmir’s top referral hospital (SMHS Hospital) at it’s Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences has started functioning with eight calls on the very first day. The response for the team of doctors handling the helpline at SMHS hospital’s Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences as such is by all standards of understandability encouraging and the increasing trend in response would hopefully reduce the increasing intensity of suicides among youth in Kashmir valley. The helpline won’t not only reduce the increasing intensity in suicide attempts among youth in valley but would reduced the increasing stress on the hearts and minds of the youth. Never forget that the rising trend of suicides among youth has also spoiled careers of hundreds of brilliant minds at a very young age and such a dangerous trend if reduced or stop would bring some brilliant minds back into the educational mainstream. This novel way of reducing stress and anxiety among youth for reducing the intensity of suicides attempts rising among them won’t only change their lives but would also change the lives of their families. Bringing a youth back from the phase of anxiety, stress and frustration to the phase of struggle for livelihoods could a great achievement for the doctors assigned the job of running Suicide Prevention Helpline at SMHS hospital’s Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences.
As first suicide prevention helpline “Kiran” was established by the Central Government’s Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the year 2020 during the high intensity pandemic period experience show that specialists in clinical psychology are better suited to the job of handling suicide prevention helplines and as such better for J&K Government also to put on job couple of specialists in clinical psychology to make the said suicide prevention helpline a bigger success. Giving hope to people in a state of hopelessness, stress and anxiety is the motive of running such help lines and if the very motive is not the priority the running of such help lines could prove more suicidal and not preventive.
However what matters is the working of the said helpline as such help lines in other parts of the country have go unanswered as they only function for a few hours despite promising to run such help lines round the clock. People in a distressed and suicidal state dialing help lines numbers with the hope to get out of the trauma if not responded well in time wound most probably go in a state of higher anxiety and stress instead of recovering from the state of stress and anxiety. As first suicide prevention helpline “Kiran” was established by the Central Government’s Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the year 2020 during the high intensity pandemic period experience show that specialists in clinical psychology are better suited to the job of handling suicide prevention helplines and as such better for J&K Government also to put on job couple of specialists in clinical psychology to make the said suicide prevention helpline a bigger success. Giving hope to people in a state of hopelessness, stress and anxiety is the motive of running such help lines and if the very motive is not the priority the running of such help lines could prove more suicidal and not preventive.
