As a leading educational institution in Malaysia, SEGi College takes psychological wellbeing very seriously. We are thus very proud to be collaborating with United Sikhs Malaysia (USM) in their thoughtful and caring initiative to give support to the community through a helpline.
Almost four suicide cases are reported daily to the Malaysian police according to a recent survey undertaken by the Malaysian Health Ministry. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, the number of reported suicide cases were already at 336 cases. This figure is about half of the total reported suicide cases for the year 2020.
There are many contributors to one’s act of suicide, but there is only one tipping point that makes individuals cross that line – extreme hopelessness. Since the COVID-19 coronavirus reared its ugly head two years ago, mental-health issues sky-rocketed from what was already a day-to-day struggle for many of us in our society. Understanding this, the government and other NGO agencies have long been providing suicide hotlines and helplines to provide immediate care to those in need of emotional support and advice to help ease their burden of hopelessness and ultimately, redirect them from suicide with a new perspective of hope.
A Malaysian registered humanitarian-aid organisation, USM is a branch of their United Nations affiliated parent organisation, United Sikhs, head-quartered in New York, and has a long history in humanitarian work in Malaysia supporting underprivileged communities. The USM Listening Helpline is USM’s effort to help expand the scope of support for people who are facing emotional crises and was (scheduled to be) launched at the end of 2021.
Given that this helpline will be purely managed by volunteers, USM sought the collaboration of the Psychology Department of SEGi College Subang Jaya to undertake a volunteer-screening and training programme. In this collaboration, Ms Thevamalar S (KB, PA), Lecturer (Psychology) and Licensed Counsellor from SEGi’s Subang Jaya campus was appointed to head the training programme. This screening and training sessions was kick started on 6th September 2021. The volunteer training sessions were concluded after 3 phases of training on 11th October 2021. Follow-up sessions are held from time to time since the last training session to provide on going support to the helpline volunteers.
Future collaborative efforts are in the works between USM and SEGi College Subang Jaya as we enter a new year. In 2022, the students of BSc Psychology undertaking the Counselling Theories and Techniques subject will be attached to this listening helpline project as part of their industrial experience where they will immerse themselves in real-life scenarios by handling this emotional support helpline. This will help the students realise the importance of the mental-health profession as well as gain first-hand experience of the field.
