CHENNAI: Sneha, an organisation involved in suicide prevention, will launch an e-mail service to befriend and provide emotional support through the Internet on Saturday to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.

The aim of the e-mail service is to help people express their feelings from any part of the globe. With more people turning to computers, there has been a drastic fall in the number of letters coming to the organisation. The e-mail service is in addition to the existing services of the organisation.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organisation have designated September 10 as World Suicide Prevention Day.

In its 19 years of service, Sneha has had 1.5 lakh callers. Sixty per cent of them are suicidal and 20 per cent of these people have called back sometime or the other to thank the organisation for being with them, says its director, P.V. Sankaranarayanan. "We could have saved around 20,000 lives." Every suicide impacts at least 15 other people. According to available statistics in India, about 10 people per lakh population commit suicide. "The statistics is based on reported cases. Many cases may go unreported because of the social stigma and because taking one's own life is crime under the law in our country," he says.

Only 10 volunteers

Sneha now has only 10 volunteers. Each volunteer works for only four hours a week and the organisation offers a coping system where volunteers are trained to "ventilate their feelings." Volunteers deal with feelings and cannot reveal any information outside the office. This can be stressful, he points out.

Let them do the talking

Most people who feel suicidal do so because of lack of understanding, care and respect from friends and family. When a person wants to talk about suicide it is best to let him talk. By merely brushing aside the person's need to talk, suicidal tendencies may be aggravated, Mr. Sankaranarayanan says.

He is also the secretary of Befrienders India, an organisation that supports the World Suicide Prevention Day. The organisation is part of Befrienders Worldwide with 100,000 volunteers. Its website is: www.befriendersindia.org.

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