SUSHEG LIFELINE

Suicide Prevention Lifeline

(A 24X7 Suicide Prevention Helpline)

            0824 2983444

OBJECTIVES  |  OPERATIONS   |  PROGRAMMES AND EVENTS  |  KNOWLEDGE HUB

THE GOAL

The goal of Mangaluru Suicide Prevention Life-Line is to prevent suicide and promote mental health and well-being.

OBJECTIVES

-> To establish and operate a suicide prevention lifeline in Mangaluru.

-> To train volunteers to assist those in distress through the suicide lifeline and prevent suicide.

-> To conduct awareness programs on mental health for educational institutions- administrators, faculty, parents and student leaders.

-> To sensitize the community on mental well-being and suicide prevention through various programmes

-> To publish literature on mental health and well-being in English and for the benefit of the general public in local languages.

RATIONALE

A survey on mental health and well-being of 1016 students between the ages of 14-25 years of Mangaluru was conducted in the Month of March, 2017 under the direction of Mr. Roshan Monteiro, Sr Marie Evelyn A.C., & Dr. Lavina Noronha. Preliminary analysis of the results indicated that 4.52 percent of students surveyed have a history of past suicide attempt and a significant number (6.79%) of students had suicidal ideation. Providing a lifeline of emotional support to such persons to prevent suicide is therefore was the need of the hour. Susheg Charitable Trust in collaboration with the post graduate department of Psychology, St. Agnes College and the post graduate department of social work, St. Aloysius College, is mobilized concerned citizens and organizations to set up such a Life-Line in Mangaluru.

Susheg Lifeline was officially launched on October 2nd, 2017 to respond to the growing number of suicides in and around Mangalore.  Leading institutions of higher education – St. Agnes College, St. Aloysius College, Roshni Nilaya and a number of NGOs and concerned citizens of Mangalore joined hands with Susheg Charitable Trust to address this social epidemic.

SUICIDE LIFELINE OPERATION

A hundred volunteers were trained in basic crisis intervention and psychological first aid in five batches from May, 2017 to May 2019 by a team of psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, counsellors and a lawyer. Weeklong training programmes were designed to equip the volunteers with skills needed to respond to the distressed callers over the phone.  Additionally, refresher courses are being organized to address issues which needed further attention.

Twenty five trained volunteers have been working in 8-hour shifts and two trained operators are available 24X7 to attend to the distress calls. Upon gathering basic information, the operators contact the volunteer on call and provide the name and number of the caller. The volunteer immediately places a call and responds according to the protocol.  The volunteers are trained in listening skills and psychological first-aid and are able to address the issues presented by the caller on the phone. If professional follow up (hospitalization, police intervention, etc) is required, the caller is referred for further assistance.  There are 12 back-up clinicians/experts including psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, lawyers, and social workers available to assist the volunteers. From October, 2017 to March, 2020 a total of 1,129 callers have been assisted by Suicide Lifeline.

Susheg Lifeline now reaches out to people from all over India.

Table depicting the distribution of callers by age, gender and geographic location from October 2nd, 2017 to March 31st, 2021.

Total

2234

Age
0-20 424
21-40 1453
41-60 325
61-80 29
81-100 3

Gender
Male 1175
Female 1059
Total 2234

Geographic Location
Karnataka 482
Out of State 1716
Total 2176

The following table depicts the reasons for the call

 

Blank calls

36

Reasons for Call

Number of Calls
Psychiatric Problem 1354
Legal Issues 03
Unemployments 18
Medical Issues 13
Academic Issues 27
Substance Abuse 22
Relationship Problem 204
Family Issues 180
Enquiry About Lifeline 88
Financial Problem 11
Stress 346
Call by Proxy 35

Total Calls 

2234

LIFELINE CO-ORDINATORS

Dr. Lavina Noronha

Dr. Lavina Noronha

Trustee

Mrs. Usha Rao

Mrs. Usha Rao

Co-ordinator

Dr.Lavina Noronha

Dr.Lavina Noronha

Trustee

Mrs.Usha Rao

Mrs.Usha Rao

Co-ordinator

VOLUNTEER TRAINING TEAM

    1. Marie Evelyn A.C.: Retired Psychology Professor, Trainer, Counsellor
    2. Usha Rao: Educational Consultant, Clinical Psychologist, Trainer
    3. Lavina Noronha: Professor, Counsellor, Palliative Care professional, Trainer
    4. Srinivas Bhat Undaru: Consultant Psychiatrist, Dept.of Psychiatry, Justice K.S. Hegde Hospital
    5. Caroline D’Souza: Consultant Psychiatrist in Private Practice, Professor of Psychiatry
    6. Audrey Pinto: Retired Psychology Professor, HOD of Dept of Counselling Psychology, Roshni Nilaya
    7. Rameela Shekher: Retired Professor of Social Work, Counsellor at Manaswini,Trainer
    8. Rosa Mathew Ramapuram: Professor of Counselling, Counsellor, Trainer, Roshni Nilaya
    9. Santosh Prabhu: Consultant Psychiatrist and Professor, Dept. Of Psychiatry, Justice K.S. Hegde Hospital
    10. Merlyn Martis: Lawyer, Director of Deeds Mangalore, NGO
    11. Rohan Mendonca: Consultant Psychiatrist and Professor, Yenepoya Medical College and Hospital
    12. Laveena Lobo: HOD, Dept. of Social Work, St. Aloysius College
    13. Rashmi Shetty: Counsellor, Professor of Counselling, Roshni Nilaya

Training and Awareness Programmes

Community sensitization on mental well being and suicide prevention:

 

In addition to training the volunteers and operation, Susheg Lifeline has been focusing on awareness generation and community sensitization activities. Promotion of mental health and well being has been a focus of most of the community outreach programmes conducted in and around Mangalore. Understanding Suicide, Developing Life skills, Handling emotions, Stress Management, Cultivating Happiness, Suicide prevention and Intervention have been the themes of programmes for High school students, college students, high school teachers, college fraternity, and other organizations have . Below is the list of some of the programmes conducted by the team:

Bhuvana Jyothi School, Shirthady

Mrs. Usha Rao and Sr. Marie Evelyn AC conducted a Suicide prevention and Intervention: Role of School Management for 60 Principals of CBSE Schools of Mangalore and Udupi Districts. They were assisted by Ms. Olga Noronha and Mrs. Diana Pinto.

St. Mary’s CBSE School, Udupi

Sr. Marie Evelyn and Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a Suicide Prevention Workshop for 45 Teachers of grades 1-10 of the School on January 29th, 2018.

St. Theresa’s ICSE School, Bendore, Mangalore

Mrs. Usha Rao conducted a two-day workshop on Suicide Awareness and Role of teachers for 28 teachers of the school. ‘Save a life’ and soft skills were the themes of workshop.

Nitte Institute of Architecture

Dr. Lavina Noronha, Ms. Olga Noronha, Dr. Maizy conducted four sessions on Cultivating Happiness, Handling  Emotions, Stress Management and Communication for 4 batches of students of Architecture students at Nitte University.

The Cambridge International School, Adyar

On 21/04/2018 Mrs. Usha Rao and Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a day long workshop on Identifying and responding to Suicidal Behaviour in students for 18 teachers of the school. They were assisted by Mrs. Sandra Suares and Mrs Diana Pinto.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga CBSE School

Mrs. Ratna Pinto and Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a two-day workshop on Suicide Prevention and Intervention: Teachers as gatekeepers for 36 teachers of the school on 29/05/2018. They were assisted by Dr. Maizy and Mrs Hilda Pais.

Yenepoya PUC College

Mrs. Ruksana Abbas conducted a half day programme on Suicide Prevention on September 12th, 2018 for students of this college

Lourdes central School, Bejai

Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a half-day seminar on Teachers as gatekeepers for the staff and teachers of the school on 20/04/2018. She was assisted by Ms. Olga Noronha.

St. Theresa’s ICSE School, Bendore

Mrs. Ratna Pinto, Mrs Diana Pinto, Ms. Olga Noronha and Mrs. Enita Rodrigues conducted 2-day workshop on Handling Emotions, Mental health and wellbeing for the students of 8th, 9th and 10th grades at the same school which was well received.

Rotary Club, Mangalore Sunrise

Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted an awareness session on Causes, warning signs and intervention in suicide for the members of the club on 10/09/2017.

Government Training College

Mrs. Wilma Andrade and Mrs. Diana Pinto conducted a session on Mental health and wellbeing for the PUC students of Govt. Training College.

St. Joseph’ Higher Primary School, Vamanjoor

Mrs. Vani Kushalappa, Mrs. Ruksana, Mrs. Manisha Suvarna and Sr. Lidwin conducted awareness programme on handling emotions for 6th and 7th grade students of this school on 27/08/2018.

Rotary Club, Mangalore Midtown

Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted an awareness session on Suicide Prevention and the role of the community for the members at their monthly meeting on 17/09/2017.

Cambridge School, Paldane

Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a half day programme on teachers as gatekeepers for the teachers of this school.

Government High School, Baikampady

Mrs. Jyothi Kanade and Mr. Clinton D’Mello conducted a session on Coping with stress and preventing suicide for 128 students of 8th, 9th and 10th grades.

Fatima Retreat House, Jeppu, Mangalore

Dr. Lavina Noronha conducted a two-hour seminar on identifying the risk factors and responding to people in distress for 60 novices, brothers and religious sisters on April 28th, 2018.

Vishwas Crown, Mangalore

Life Skills workshop was conducted by Dr. Lavina Noronha, Mrs. Usha Rao and Sr. Marie Evelyn for 11 volunteers of the lifeline.

Rotary Club, Mangalore Metro

Mrs Usha Rao conducted a session on Mental Health and Well being for members of this Rotary Club at Hotel Ocean Pearl on 5/4/2018

Events

SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY WALKATHON, 2018

A walkathon was organized and held on September, 10, 201 with a theme “Walk for life” from St. Aloysius College to the Football ground at Nehru Maidan. Mr. Sasikanth Senthil, Deputy Commissioner flagged off the walkathon at 7am. Two suicide attempt survivors shared their stories with those gathered. About 700 students, NGOs, and other concerned citizens of Mangalore participated in the event. Mr. Abdul Rauf Puthige, of Vishwas Bawa Builders was the chief guest.

A poster/collage competition on suicide prevention was held for students and the most educative and creative posters were awarded cash prizes.  Book marks on warning signs of suicide were distributed to those gathered in order to create awareness on suicide prevention.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS – 2019

In association with K.S. Hegde Educational and Medical Academy, Deralakatte, St. Aloysius College Dept. Of Psychology, Suicide Lifeline and Mangalore Bicycle Association, St. Agnes College Dept of Psychology a walkathon was held from St. Agnes College to St. Aloysius College on 6th October, 2019. 

Bicycle rally was held from Indian Medical Association office to St. Aloysius College. The theme of 2019 Mental health awareness month was “Working together to prevent suicide.”  Dr. Jagadisha, Professor of Psychiatry from Bangalore, Dr. Santosh Prabhu, Fr. Dionysius Vas, St. Aloysius Institutions, Mr. Vedavyas Kamath, Mr. U.T. Khader local MLAs also spoke on the occasion. 

A poster/collage completion was held for students and the same were displayed around the auditorium- Eric Mathias Hall.  Book marks were also distributed to the participants.

CASK – SUICIDE LIFELINE COLLABORATION

The Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK) has been organizing Personality Development Programme for School/College students since 2012 and conducting a Teacher Enrichment Programme for Teachers since 2017. Since 2020, CASK has been collaborating with the Suicide Lifeline, Mangalore in creating awareness about Role of Teachers in Suicide Prevention. Mrs Usha Rao, Coordinator and Trainer of Suicide lifeline has addressed Teachers of the following schools:

    • Rotary Navachetana School, Nirmarga, 22 Teachers
    • Chinmaya High School, Kadri  25
    • teachers  on 20th November ,2020
    • Canara Higher Primary School, Urwa  30 teachers on 10th December, 2020
    • Milagres College, Hampankatta  22 teachers  on 6th February 2021
    • Sharada Vidyaniketana PU College, Talapady  48 teachers  on 27th February 2021

Mrs Usha Rao addressed a total of 150 students of the following schools on the topic Cultivate Happiness:

    • St.Agnes CBSE High School, 110 students of Class-10  19th February 2021
    • Milagres High School, 40 students of Class-10  2nd March 2021

Suicide Lifeline is grateful to CASK, especially Mrs Patsy Lobo, Coordinator of the CASK Teacher Enrichment Programme for collaborating with Suicide Lifeline in creating Awareness Programmes for Teachers and Students.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

As a volunteer: If you are interested in being trained as a volunteer of our lifeline, please email us on [email protected]

As a Donor:  If you would like to partner with us in our mission of saving lives and spreading awareness about suicide,please refer to the bank details given below:

Account Name: Susheg Charitable Trust- Susheg Lifeline

Account Number: 520101022731532

IFSC Code: UBIN0935069

Union Bank of India

Narmada Building, Falnir Road, Mangalore- 575 001

All Contributions are tax-exempt!