You can
PREVENT Suicide
“In many cases, where a person with suicidal thoughts did not attempt suicide, three protective factors were founds – integrated families, social and spiritual support, playing a critical role in prevention”
- Dr Nimesh Desai, IHBAS director
We believe
We can create suicide prevention strategy that includes inputs survivors and help those in likely suicidal distress.
Mental Health in Schools and Colleges
According to the World Health Organisation, close to one in five students is actively dealing with a mental health issue. Globally, suicide is the second leading cause of death among students.
This points to a greater need for educators to focus on improving the mental health of their students. A holistic approach is required, one that involves all stakeholders including senior management, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents and students.
Here are some ways to build mental health into your educational institutions and improve the lives of your students:
Understand the nature of the problem
Introduce social and emotional learning programs for students
Encourage help-seeking and help-giving
Build awareness about helplines and other avenues for help-seeking
Address issues like bullying, harassment, discrimination
A concerted effort towards helping students improve their mental health is crucial to the resiliency of an educational institution. It has been shown that better mental health leads to improved performance, better relationships and ultimately, happier students.
Contact Us if you’d like customised solutions to enhance the mental health of your school or college.
Mental Health at the Workplace
A survey of 2,00,000 professionals in India found that 50% suffered extreme stress at work. Further, 75% of employees say they don’t have good friends at work.
This points to the increasing need for workplaces to focus on improving the mental health of their employees. Here are some things to consider:
Understand the extent to which your employees are struggling with mental health issues.
Remove the stigma and train those in leadership roles to provide mental health first aid and QPR.
Build a culture of emotional awareness.
Make specialist care accessible and affordable
Taking care of the mental health needs of your employees will provide numerous benefits to your organisation. Organisations that prioritise mental health are shown to have higher productivity, fewer cases of absenteeism and reduced disability costs.
Therapists and Suicide
10 per 100,000 people kill themselves every year. With an ever increasing suicide rate, suicide is the most common cause of death among young and middle aged groups in India. For every person that completes suicide, there are 25 that make an attempt and a 100 that have suicidal thoughts. Given these statistics, it’s likely that a mental health professional has come across a suicidal client at some point in their career.
Research suggests that 24-28 percent of therapists will lose a client to suicide. This can lead to guilt, anger, regret, and a loss of self-confidence. Research shows that a majority of clinicians fear the suicidal patient. This makes sense given that 70% of mental health professionals have no training in suicide prevention. This leads to distancing themself from the patient and may even lead to increased suicide risk among them.
However, those in the mental health profession are in a unique position to be able to recognise the warning signs, intervene and save lives. It is hence integral that they are equipped with the skills to do so. There is a clear shortage of expert trained mental health professionals. We believe that we can change that by helping mental health professionals meet that suicidal client with a sense of self-efficacy and confidence. To know more, view our guide
