Jamshedpur-based suicide prevention centre Jeevan will be extending its reach to the community with more, in-person awareness sessions against the futility of ending life prematurely.

The centre’s activity (virtual seminars and awareness sessions) is restricted to a handful of schools. Distressed individuals contact its volunteers over phone or Whatsapp. However, it has not been able to physically connect to people post-pandemic.

Jeevan is worried over the rise in suicide cases in the city but so far it has not been able to adequately spread awareness among the masses owing to resource crunch and other issues.

"A wide section of people in Jamshedpur are not aware of our existence. So, they are unable to reach us for counselling. We have put posters and banners in some parts of the city but it is not enough. We felt the need to physically reach the community and spread awareness about the futility of committing suicide and also ways to overcome stress and depression," said Jeoraj Jain, director of Jeevan.

According to him, they are joining hands with Urban Services of Tata Steel to reach people. "Jeevan will be spreading awareness at dozen-odd community centres run by the Urban Services. We are sure Urban Services can bring people to the community centres for attending our awareness session. We will be availing the services of experienced counsellers for conducting the sessions," Jain informed.

Jain said they have already met officials of Urban Services and one more meeting is scheduled on March 27."The meeting on March 27 will be the final before we go to the community centres," he added.

He expressed concern over the rise in suicide cases in Jamshedpur." We are really very concerned over the rise in suicide cases in the city."Eighteen people (12 men and 6 women) ended their lives in January this year while the number stood at 34 (26 men and 8 women) in February. The trend of suicide is very disturbing," the Jeevan director said.

According to him, five school students were among those who committed suicide in the past two months. "The method of suicide was mostly by hanging. Family dispute, financial issues and loneliness have been the main reasons forcing people to take fatal step," he said, adding the pandemic has rendered several people unemployed, which is also one of the reasons for suicides.