Jeoraj Jain, director of an NGO, Jeevan, said they will organise mental health revitalisation programmes at 11 community health centres (CHCs) in the city. The CHCs are owned and run by Tata Steel.
Commencing from October, the programme will involve stress-buster plays, motivational talks by the mental health experts and counselling sessions for the participating crowd. “We are expecting working-class people, who are in the age group of 25 to 50, to attend the programme largely, which will be held thrice a week,” said Jain.
He said the employees of Tata Steel, Tata group companies will attend the programme but the organisation is keen on hosting the workers of the outsourced vendor companies that are operating in the industrial town. “In our forthcoming meeting with the VP (corporate services), Tata Steel, Chanakya Chaudhary, we will discuss the proposal of taking the vendors’ families on board,” Jain said.
Sharing the data of deaths by suicide in the city in the first eight months of 2023, Jain said that out of the 143 people who have taken their own lives, 109 people are below the age of 45 and 34 above the age of 45 years, respectively. Out of the total suicides, 100-plus people were bread earners or their spouses, the data said.
Likewise, in 2022, a total of 206 people ended their lives abruptly, which included 157 people of up to 45 years of age and 49 less than 45 years of age, the data said. In 2022, a total of 58 women killed themselves while in 2023 till August, 41 women died by suicide. Going by the records, 18 students died by suicide in 2022 and 14 so far in 2023.
The reasons for suicide are multiple but family problems topped the list followed by stress, depression, love affairs and financial problems. “Regardless of the cause, stress and anxiety have the potential to drive a person into depression. Methodological counselling is a way to lift the person from depression,” said psychiatric Mahesh Hembram.
Jain said schools and colleges are the other important sector, which they have been focusing on to provide remedial lessons to the students to cope with study-related stress and exams-linked anxiety. “Currently, 21 schools in the city, besides Arka Jain University in Seraikela, Xavier Institute for Tribal Education (XITE), Gamharia, are the educational institutions where our experts have been holding counselling classes periodically,” he said.
Netaji Subhash University, Pokharia, and National Institute of Technology (NIT-Jamshedpur) will partner with Jeevan for the counselling classes. The helpline numbers are 9297777499 and 9297777500, Jain said.
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