Smile Foundation Uses Tele-Counseling to provide Psychological Support to the Underserved
- The pilot phase of tele-counselling which started a week ago in Howrah, Kolkata scanned close to 250 patients daily is now going national
Chennai, April 15, 2020: The National NGO Smile Foundation plans
to reach out to 40,000 families in the next one month, across 14 states to provide
psychological counselling needs through tele-calling.
“Suicidal tendencies,
fears, and anxieties have gripped the poor and migrant labour populations who
have been the worst affected by this sudden decision of lockdown by the
government to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus. With the
lockdown being extended, our beneficiaries need us more than ever to be there
for them. Through this directly connecting with beneficiaries, we aim to create
a sense of security and also help in addressing their fears,” said Santanu
Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.
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| Dr. Shadrach, Chennai location |
National NGO Smile
Foundation, which works on primary healthcare has drawn out a plan to reach out
to these marginalised populations and helping them fight their fears and
anxiety in this period of lockdown through mental health counseling.
The pilot phase of
tele-counselling which started a week ago in Howrah, Kolkata, scanned closed to
250 patients daily. In the coming weeks, the state teams consisting of doctors,
nurses, and paramedics will be scaling up operations across all the project
states covering both villages and urban slums as well predominantly COVID-19
affected states namely Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar
Pradesh.
“Over the next couple of
weeks, trained counsellors, doctors, nurses from Smile Foundation will be
making make several thousand calls to all beneficiaries within our network and
partner organizations to ease out their angst caused by the spread of the deadly
corona-virus which has killed more than 300 people and infected upwards of 9000 people across India,” said Satnam Singh,
health lead at Smile Foundation.
He added, “Through tele-counseling
we are creating awareness on the disease, advising on the importance of hand-washing,
and guiding the use of masks among other precautionary measures.”
“We are releasing that more
and more beneficiaries need counseling at this hour than any other. They hear
your voice and immediately understand that there is someone to help them.
Further discussion entails understanding their grievances and also supporting
them with ration. We also inform of the Government schemes and applications
they can use, which they may or may not be aware of.” said Dr. Shadrach, who
works at the Chennai location of Smile Foundation.
Last week, Smile Foundation
started its first phase of ration distribution wherein it reached out to 40,000
families across 10 states. Over the coming weeks, the foundation aims to reach
out to another 1,10,000 families across 19 states and help them meet their
daily nutrition needs, as well as sanitation needs like masks, soaps, sanitary
napkins and sanitisers.
About Smile Foundation:
Smile Foundation is a
national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000
underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than
250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth
employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life
cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on
children, their families and the community. Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: jaya.shroff@smilefoundationindia.org |
9818194294, Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/
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