Feeling anxious? Help is just a call away
- 18 Jul 2020
Manjula Ramakrishnan
The pandemic has affected global population at multiple levels, causing devastating effects on physical, mental well-being and bringing down economies of nations. As an answer to need of the hour, Healing Minds was initiated under the patronage of eminent luminaries including Mohammed Al Mattar, Director, DHA – Warsan Isolation Centre, Hareb Juma Binsubaih Al Falasi, Althaf Ali and Mustafa Usman.
“The role of a mental health professional is more important now, as people come to terms with the mental health impact of illness, bereavement, isolation, insecurity, changing work and family circumstances and general anxiety at such an uncertain time. During a pandemic when physical distancing is the norm, mental health helplines providing remote MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) play a vital role in promoting social connectedness, reiterating the fact that we are all in this together,” says Althaf Ali, Initiator & Program Director of Healing Minds. This initiative is under the patronage of Hind Humanitarian City at Al Warsan, a facility operated by DHA.
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Soon after initiation, an Advisory Board was formed consisting of prominent psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, and the Healing Minds programme became a reality for supporting UAE residents with full-fledged mental health first aid services.
Althaf Ali goes into greater details about the services offered by Healing Minds.
What is the underlying concept of Healing Minds?
Healing Minds is the first of its kind community mental health tele-counselling platform in the region. We provide mental health first aid which is NOT intensive therapy. There is no diagnosis or treatment, no labelling, no “patient” in a MHFA session. It is instead a compassionate and supportive presence, designed to mitigate acute distress and assess the need for continued mental health care. In cases where additional medications or further support is required we direct them to psychiatric or clinical facilities.
What are the broad objectives of Healing Minds?
We wish to empower and heal individuals by awakening their own inner healing abilities to overcome grief, pain, anxiety or depression by providing professional psychological interventions. We wish to humanely connect at a deep and resonant level with compassion by providing them a wide access to expert mental health services. Our work is dedicated to helping develop resilience in the face of adversity.
Can you elaborate on the services offered by the professional team?
Healing Minds has brought together an expert pool of over 65 psychologists and mental health professionals from diverse multilingual, ethnic communities. They provide psychological first-aid and mental health counselling in over 20 languages including Arabic, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Konkani and Punjabi. Our physical location at the DHA facility has a full time dedicated clinical psychologist and support staff operating the call centre.
So how does the helpline work?
Distressed individuals can dial the mental health helpline 800 MINDS (80064637) and can speak to a team of leading psychologists and experts for free, for much needed re-assurance and hope in their time of despair. Individual sessions are available daily from 8am to 12 midnight. Uncompromising confidentiality is maintained. Callers are encouraged to call back any time they require help. While we try to connect the same therapist to the caller, that may not always be possible, and they are connected to any available professional.
Can you elaborate on the tele-counselling?
The tele-counselling service by mental health experts supports distressed individuals to overcome the specific challenges posed by COVID-19 situation. They are offered guidance on effective coping strategies, building resilience and maintaining good mental health. Areas of support include anxiety, stress, depression, unemployment and financial distress, relationship issues, work stress, grief, frustration and self-harm. In addition, we also offer help through our webinar series for students and parents. Our website has FAQ’s regarding mental health issues.
Can you draw out some examples of cases handled by Healing Minds experts?
Most of the cases are related to anxiety, stress and depression; either as a consequence of testing positive, being in quarantine or fears regarding contracting the virus. Although people who have tested positive and are in quarantine or treatment facilities do make up a large percentage of calls, many others have been affected as well.
The second most frequently received distress calls are from people facing unemployment or financial instability due to Covid. For some, working from home has led to added stress, work cutting into family time and the inability to socialise, leading to slowly worsening mental state.
Our success rate has been very rewarding; we have had instances of past callers calling us back just to let us know how much better they are doing, When we follow up with the calls after two weeks, they are happy to share their positive stories with us and how speaking to us has made a difference to their sleep, quality of life, work and family life.