Assuring all assistance by the Tamil Nadu government in providing welfare for the women impacted by suicide loss and thereby strengthen community support systems, Minister for Energy and Law C.T.R. Nirmalkumar said that the role of NGOs was important on Sunday.

Speaking at a function jointly organised by the M S Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation in Madurai and Mariwala Health Initiative, Mumbai, to distribute welfare assistance to women impacted by suicide loss at Alanganallur, he lauded the trust for its efforts in bringing back the victims to the mainstream.

Such psychosocial support programs for vulnerable population in rural communities for essential and families, who often do not know, where to seek help during mental health emergencies, the role of Chellamuthu Trust and their team members was commendable, the minister said and added that the T.N. government, under the leadership of C Joseph Vijay, would accord top priority for the differently abled people.

Speaking on the occasion, trust founder and psychiatrist C. Ramasubramanian said that the community based rehabilitation for persons with mental disabilities has been functioning since 2000 in Madurai East, Madurai West, Natham, Sanarpatti, Kottampatti, Vadipatti and Alanganallur blocks. They have identified 4,428 persons across 201 panchayats and 958 villages.

The objective of the programme was to address mental health challenges, social exclusion, caregiver burden, grief and long term impact of suicide loss. Apart from conducting psychiatric treatment camps, home visits, counselling and rehabilitation support are provided. Around 180 families had received livelihood support and assistance for income generating activities, Dr. Ramasubramanian said.

Sharing a few factors, which were the cause for suicide among the deceased family members, he said that 209 women reported that their family member died by suicide due to family problems, 171 women attributed it to alcohol addiction and 85 women cited debt burden as a significant reason.

In a sustained manner, the trust has been providing support in multiple ways and together the community mental health program and the SPEAK project had reached over 5,300 vulnerable individuals thus giving improved access to mental health care and helped beneficiaries rebuild their lives with dignity, resilience and hope, the psychiatrist said.

Some of the women beneficiaries shared their feelings at an interaction and when a woman sought a job, the minister directed the officials from the District Collectorate and the Chellamuthu Trust to examine the modalities. according to her qualification and skills.

(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050 and Speak2Us helpline at 9375493754.)