| Publication: Times of India Mumbai; | Date: Jan 14, 2010; | Section: Times City; | Page: 5 |
Civic help for teachers to check suicide spate
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Given the spate of suicides in the last 10 days, the civic administration on Wednesday spelt out a threetier plan to combat the problem. First on the agenda is a helpline to assist people who need counselling.
At a meeting held in KEM Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, senior psychiatrists from KEM, Nair and Sion hospitals along with officebearers of the Bombay Psychiatry Society brainstormed about a mass response to the twin problems of depression and suicide.
Additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, We shall set up a helpline in partnership with other stakeholders. We will announce it shortly after working out the modalities.
The BMC also plans to hold workshops for its teachers so that they can identify children who need counselling. We will have sessions mainly for our civic school teachers, but private schools that want to enrol their teachers for the workshops would be welcome, she said.
For private schools, the BMC plans to take a leaf out of its H1N1 battleplan. During the swine flu epidemic, the
civic body had distributed leaflets highlighting the symptoms and precautions against H1N1. We will prepare a brochure enlisting all the signs that teachers should look for in children who need counselling, she said. The civic body is also planning a campaign titled, Life is beautiful.