TeleMANAS identifies high risk callers to provide mental health support

CHENNAI: In order to provide mental health support to people reaching out to people in distress, the TeleMANAS (Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States) mental health helpline- 14416 and health helpline 104 are identifying high risk individuals based on follow up and referring them to district mental health authorities for further support.

As many as 2,173 follow ups were made out of the 7,245 calls made to TeleMANAS "14416" helpline from October 27th, 2022 to 13th January, 2023.

"The helpline is a new initiative. We have given local language options to the callers so that they can be understood better. The calls are attended by the trained psychologists only because the helpline is exclusively for handling the distress calls. We have made follow up calls to the callers who agree to that and these calls are made only as per their convenience because they might be comfortable to talk infront of others, " said a representative from TeleMANAS.

Of the 24.64 lakh calls made to 104 helpline since inception in 2013 December, 1.98 lakh callers were provided with mental health counselling. The helpline is working along with TeleMANAS to attend to mental health concerns and identify the high risk people. After identifying the high risk category people on follow up, we are also extending physical counselling through social workers and local authorities, " said a representative from the helpline.

Selva Kumar, State Head of Operations at GVK EMRI that runs the helpline, said that the persons providing counseling services are trained by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS), Bangalore.

In this regard we have a doctor qualified in the area of Psychiatry to oversee and monitor the project, a team of clinical psychologists and twenty psychologist those have undergone training conducted by NIMHANS and Institute of Mental Health and also having expertise knowledge in the area of providing counselling to people under distress.