Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, often through its telephone helpline. Its name derives from the biblical Parable of the Good Samaritan, although the organisation itself is not religious.
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. The first such service was founded in England in 1951 and such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the English speaking world at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have expanded their mandate to deal more generally with emotional crises. Similar hotlines operate to help people in other circumstances, including rape, bullying, self-harm, runaway children, human trafficking, and people who identify as LGBTQ+ or intersex. Despite crisis hotlines being common, their effectiveness in reducing suicides is not clear.
Kids Help Phone is a Canadian charitable organization that provides online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also provides information on how to access community support services for youth.
Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preventable, and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Suicide can be prevented by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and committing to social change.
Suicide intervention is a direct effort to prevent a person or persons from attempting to take their own life or lives intentionally.
988 is a telephone number used in some North American (NANP) countries for a suicide prevention helpline. In the United States, it is known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In Canada, it is known as the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline.
Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Among youth, attempting suicide is more common among girls; however, boys are more likely to actually perform suicide. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.
Switchboard of Miami, Inc., commonly referred to as Switchboard, was a private, nonprofit and registered 501(c)(3) organization located in Miami, Florida, United States that provided Miami-Dade County with comprehensive telephone counseling and referral services to thousands of social service programs beginning in 1968. The organization also offered counseling services and prevention programs, such as initiatives aimed at assisting high-risk youth and their families through partnerships with local schools. Since 1968, these services have been offered to the community at no charge. Callers can seek advice confidentially, as no information is needed by the company in order to receive the services. Switchboard shut down in 2016 following a "major financial emergency".
CHILDLINE 1098 is a service of Ministry of Women and Child Development. Childline India Foundation is a non-government organisation (NGO) in India that operates a telephone helpline called Childline, for children in distress. It was India's first 24-hour, toll free, phone outreach service for children. Childline 1098 service is available all over India. It is available in 602+ districts, 144+ railway stations and 11 bus terminals have Child Help Desks.
Satyamev Jayate is an Indian Hindi-language television talk show aired on various channels within Star Network along with Doordarshan's DD National. The first season of the show premiered on 6 May 2012 and marked the television debut of popular Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan. The second season of the show was aired from 2 March 2014 and the third season started from 5 October 2014.
Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2022 there were 5,642 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 15 suicides per day. 74.1% of suicides in England and Wales in 2022 were males. In Scotland there were 762 probable suicides in 2022, equating to an average of 2 suicides per day. In Northern Ireland there were 203 suicide deaths registered in 2022. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK.
Lifeline Foundation is an NGO based in Kolkata, India. It provides telephone counselling to mentally distressed individuals. It was founded in 1996 and has been noted for its efforts by the international media.
AASRA is a Mumbai-based mental health not-for-profit organization known for operating a 24-hour helpline for individuals who are suicidal and emotionally distressed. The service is an offshoot of Befrienders Worldwide and the Samaritans, with the India chapter established in 1960.
Kaan Pete Roi is an emotional support helpline in Bangladesh.
In 2014, the WHO ranked Nepal as the 7th in the global suicide rate. The estimated annual suicides in Nepal are 6,840 or 24.9 suicides per 100,000 people. Data on suicide in Nepal are primarily based on police reports and therefore rely on mortality statistics. However, the burden of suicide in communities is likely to be higher, particularly among women, migrant workers, and populations affected by disasters.
Coping planning is an approach to supporting people who are distressed. It is part of a biopsychosocial approach to mental health and well-being that comprises healthy environments, responsive parenting, belonging, healthy activities, coping, psychological resilience and treatment of illness. Coping planning normalises distress as a universal human experience. It draws on a health-focused approach to coping, to improve emotion regulation and decrease the memory of unpleasant emotions. Coping planning interventions are effective when people are supported in the process of forming coping plans.
Mental health in Australia has been through a significant shift in the last 50 years, with 20% of Australians experiencing one or more mental health episodes in their lifetimes. Australia runs on a mixed health care system, with both public and private health care. The public system includes a government run insurance scheme called Medicare, which aids mental health schemes. Each state within Australia has its own management plans for mental health treatment. However, the overarching system and spending remains the same.
Suicide prevention and intervention efforts in India are in the nascent stage. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide in India is a serious public health issue but it can be prevented with timely interventions that are based on evidence. Suicide prevention is also one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3.4.2) wherein they have asked member countries to work towards reduce global suicide rates by one third by 2030. Notable steps taken by the Government of India include the decriminalization of suicide in the Mental HealthCare Act of 2017 and launching of India's first mental health toll free helpline KIRAN. Many experts have emphasised the urgent need for a national strategy for suicide prevention to be implemented that is multi-sectoral in nature.
Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala is an Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist, founder and former CEO of Zenta Group, a business process outsourcing firm. She co-founded and served as CEO of Hirco, a real estate company. She is the co-founder of the Vandrevala Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on mental health, along with her husband, Cyrus. She was listed by the World Economic Forum as one of its Young Global Leaders in 2011.
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