The UAE has a number of tools to help prevent suicide and the crises that surround it.
Indian Workers' Resource Centre
Indian expatriates can rely on a distress hotline and a help centre, sponsored by the Indian Embassy. Callers can discuss their emotional and financial issues, and they will be either assisted on the phone or scheduled to meet a counsellor, free of cost. The hotline is 800 46342.
As stated in a Gulf News report, published on October 9, 2013, financial burden is one of the causes of suicide amongst expatriates in the UAE. The Embassy started this initiative after a rise in the number of suicides committed by Indian expatriates.
With about 9.09 million Facebook users in the UAE, according to Global Media Insight, a UAE-based digital agency, the platform’s users can visit the website’s ‘Suicide Prevention’ page to find links to counselling and therapy websites, hotline numbers and self-care tips. The page also instructs users to report any suicidal content, like status updates. UAE residents are also using Facebook to spread awareness themselves.
An informational page called ‘The Louis Smith Foundation’ constantly shares mental health related content and users can privately message the page to ask about resources, organisations and centres dealing with mental health, available in the UAE.
Most importantly, UAE residents are urged to call the police helpline: 999, in case of any emergency.
— The writer is an intern with Gulf News
