Help At The Other End

When a spate of suicides were reported in the city last year,her post-graduate clinical psychology class expressed a wish to help. “Initially there were eight of us; gradually the entire department was roped in. Who better than youngsters to reach out to the youth?” says D’Cruz. Over a year ago,this like-minded group initiated a suicide help line and counseling project called ‘Reach Out To Life’. Since then,they have interacted with close to 8,000 children in the city through workshops that percolated classrooms. “Funds are limited,but we got a cell phone and a Sim card. So now we also have a help line number. We also got business cards printed with the number and distributed it,” says D’Cruz.

The number of calls increase when exams approach. Every student involved in the project mans the cell phone for two-three weeks each and maintains a database of the nature of grievances. “This time of the year is quite busy. We get calls from boys and girls who are tense about their exams or have trouble with their relationships,” says Anusuya Hazarika,a student involved with the project. Though an average is difficult to ascertain,calls in a day could vary from 7-8 to 2-3,from youngsters roughly aged between 15 and 23.

In the classrooms,the group often quotes examples from films to drive home the point against suicide. “Like,we ask about 3 Idiots and what’s their take on the suicide of the student,” says Priyam Redican,a second-year post-grad student. The discussion helps the group identify students who could possibly need help. “There are few movies that are made for children and youngsters,on the issues that affect them. That’s a problem,” says Redican.

Once the group got over the initial hiccup of spreading the word about their work,calls came in. “And 50 per cent of them even called back to tell us if they felt better after the talk,” says Hazarika. Twenty-seven from the senior classes are involved with Reach Out To Life,and even other faculty members of the department pitch in. The group has functioned as an extracurricular one,unconnected to the college.

The project’s ambition now centers around registering itself as an NGO. A carnival to raise funds and awareness to this end was organised recently in Kalyani Nagar. “It was an advertisement of sorts. We had set-up food stalls at the carnival. Now we are in the process of registration,” says Redican.