On 07th September 2020, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Thaawar chand Gehlot launched a 24×7 Toll-Free Mental Health Rehabilitation Helpline “KIRAN” (1800-500-0019) to provide relief and support to persons with Mental Illness. Shri Gehlot also released the poster, brochure and resource book on the Mental Health Helpline Kiran.
Objectives of Kiran Helpline:
The objectives of the Helpline are:
- Early Screening; First Aid;
- Psychological support;
- Distress management;
- Mental well-being;
- Preventing deviant behaviors;
- Psychological crisis management and
- Referral to mental health experts.
Salient Features of Kiran Helpline
- The Kiran Helpline will offer mental health rehabilitation services with the objective of early screening, first-aid, psychological support, distress management, mental wellbeing, promoting positive behaviours, psychological crisis management etc.
- It aims at serving people experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, adjustment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, pandemic induced psychological issues & mental health emergencies.
- This Toll Free Helpline will be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the Technical Coordination of BSNL. 25 Institutions including 8 National Institutes are involved in this Helpline.
- It is backed by 660 Clinical / Rehabilitation Psychologists and 668 Psychiatrists.
- It will function as a lifeline to provide 1st stage advice, counselling and reference in 13 languages.
- The 13 languages covered in the Helpline are: Hindi, Assamese, Tamil, Marathi, Odia, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Bengali, Urdu and English.
Working of the Kiran Helpline
The Helpline operates in this way:
- Dial Toll- Free number 1800-599-0019 from any mobile or land line of any telecom network from any part of India.
- After welcome message, select language by pressing correct button;
- After the language selection, Select State/UT,
- You will get connected to the Helpline Centre of native or desired state, Mental health expert will help to resolve the issue or refer/connect to external help (Clinical Psychologist/ Rehabilitation Psychologist/ Psychiatrist).
In July 2020, MHRD launched Manodarpan for mental well-being of students
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References:
- Mental Health Helpline – Kiran – Download PDF
