Arnavaz Damania appeals to come forward to counsel patients
Arnavaz Damania, Connecting NGO, Pune
Arnavaz Damania founded Connecting Trust in 2005, a volunteer-based organization working in the field of mental health, specifically for suicide prevention. There are many negative experiences around suicide such as stigma, discrimination, medico-legal inquiries, that the survivors have to face. Hence, Arnavaz decided to start this organization to provide emotional support to suicide survivors, people in distress and/or those who have suicidal thoughts/ideation.
Connecting trust works in suicide prevention through four programs: Distress Helpline Program: those who are experiencing any kind of distress can call our helpline numbers 9922004305/9922001122 any day of the week from 12 to 8 pm or write to us at[email protected]
Survivor Support Program: those who experience suicide can text us on 8484033312, we will call you. This service is available on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm. • Peer Educator Program works with schools for adolescents from 8th to 10th std. • Awareness Program aims to create an awareness in all sections of society. All our services are free of cost and our volunteers provides emotional support to people through non-judgmental, non-advisory, empathetic listening space. During the pandemic – stress, anxiety, depression and suicide attempts/deaths were on the rise; this is reflected on the calls and in the emails.
Distress helpline volunteers responded to 2427 calls and 717 emails from April 2020 to March 202. The Survivor Support Program is actually a field program. The volunteers meet suicidesurvivors through hospital and community visits and provide them emotional support. Looking at the situation during the pandemic, we took our Survivor Support Program telephonically from September 2020, to reach out to suicide survivors and we connected with 20 survivors within just a year.
Connecting NGO observed that children are also facing stress, so we took our Peer Educator Program online, with 3
schools and reached out to 920 students, 178 parents and 120 teachers through our orientations and sessions. During this academic year 160 students became Peer Educators, ready to support their peers. The NGO implemented the same format to create awareness around suicide and self-care and reached out to 2976 people for the same. All this was possible because of the hard work and dedication our volunteers have towards the cause. “It truly gives a lot of satisfaction to save a life. Many need help, please do join hands and support to save a life,” said Arnavaz Damania.
She was very firm on making Connecting Trust a volunteer-based organization as she believes that people who come forward to volunteer, put their heart and soul into it. Talking to suicide survivors, people in distress, creating awareness towards suicide; needs a loving, kind, empathetic and compassionate approach with courage to work on such a sensitive and intense issue.
Connecting NGO welcomes those who are interested in working towards suicide prevention through any of our programs can contact Vikramsinh Pawar on 7030230033.
