More than 90 per cent of suicide cases suffer from depression and can be saved if only the victims reach for help by talking to a counsellor, according to Dato Dr M. Florance, who has spoken to many suicide callers.
"Family members who notice children or parents going quiet must help by talking to them or recommending them to seek professional help from a psychologist or counsellor. The goodness of humanity will shine if suicide victims speak to someone and seek help.
"The danger is when a potential suicide victim goes silent, and these are warning signs," said Dato Dr Florance, founder, president, and SNEHAM Malaysia (NGO) volunteer. The Non-Profit Organisation aims to prevent suicide cases.
She added that SNEHAM, like Befrienders telephone counselling services, actively promotes Mental and Emotional Well-being and Suicide Awareness in Tamil, Bahasa & English across Malaysia.
"The Indian Community, for instance, is the minority population in the Country and makes up about 6% of the 32 million populations. However, they record the highest incidence of completed suicides and suffer from social and economic problems which predispose causes of poor mental health in the Community."
Generally, people call SNEHAM helplines to seek help in relationship problems, suffering from losses, or victims of domestic abuses & violence, economic hardships, pressures at work, financial issues, or alcohol & substance abuse, or just feeling low with a lack of self-esteem, confidence to loneliness, distressed and clinical mental health issues depression and other mental health disorders.
"During the pandemic, we recorded a larger (988 cases till Dec 2020) % of calls from who we classify as the vulnerable groups, such as people with underlying mental health issues (48%), women, the elderly, those with disabilities, young adults and others suffering illnesses, neglect. In 2021, 1598 cases and 2022 was 1268," Dato Dr Florance said.
An informal survey in June 2017 justified the need to establish the services. On May 11, 2019, SNEHAM was officially launched by YB Kasthurirani Pattoo, Member of Parliament for Batu Kawan. Our 1st Operating Centre was based in Prai, Penang, and is currently located at Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
In the first year of operations, SNEHAM handled 354 calls directly to our helplines or through referrals. And about 45% of the people who contacted us had suicidal thoughts, and some shared about their failed attempts and suicide ideation.
"From the calls received, almost 85% of issues shared by callers were intra-personal or interpersonal problems, and women formed the highest number of callers, recording 78%. The nature of the calls was either a personal struggle, feeling low and lack of confidence, self-esteem, relationship failures, divorce, troubled families, domestic violence, single parents challenged by economic hardships, the pressure of work, lack of opportunities, bullying, loneliness, depression and some with underlying mental illness.
"As part of our School and Community Outreach Programs, we actively promoted the importance of Positive Mental Health, created Awareness on Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Suicide. We focused more on sharing coping skills for students, individuals and workshop participants to manage life's various challenges and stressed the importance of seeking professional help for early symptoms of mental issues," Dato Dr Florance told Newswav.com in an interview.
Last week she was one of the 20 Rotary District 3300 Ivy Awards nominations for her contribution to society. SNEHAM's other awards are the 2012: Outstanding CSR Leadership Award (Intel); 2014 - Global Volunteer Excellence Award (AMD); 2015 – World Women Leadership Award – WWLC CSR Congress; 2017 - Lifetime Achievement Award – Golden Globe Tigers Award; 2017 – World Women Leadership Award – Golden Globe Tigers Award.
For her community work, she also got her Datoship in 2019 from Penang State Government; 2020 - Stars of COVID – World Humanitarian Drive, U.K.; 2021 - Wanita Hebat (Women Excellence Award) – by JPWK & PWDC; 2022 - Pride of Humanity Award – Take Care International/APJ Abdul Kalam Foundation; 2022 – Active Aging Award for Community Service from Penang State.
SNEHAM was selected as one of the beneficiaries of a financial grant from the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit, MITRA, which was extremely helpful in carrying out our School Outreach and Public Training Programs extensively in 2019.
SNEHAM (Sanskrit) means an extension of friendship with caring concern; love was apt for the service they render. SNEHAM Malaysia became the first private Helpline to offer toll-free tele-counselling services in Malaysia and was the first to render assistance in Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia.
SNEHAM's Helpline is: +60 1-800-22-5757
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, associate professor and undercover journalist. M. Krishnamoorthy is a media coach, associate professor, and journalist who worked and freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns going undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, disabled salesman and Member of Parliament.
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