Online and tele-counselling services to seek mental health support from

The Covid-19 outbreak has adversely affected the psychological health of many people. From tiny to major crises, people need emotional and mental health support to deal with anxieties, loneliness, frustration and suicidal thoughts more than ever. Online and tele-counselling services these days are more sought out options for people with anxiety issues for a number of reasons. They can share their problems and get support while maintaining anonymity and can also maintain social distancing amid this pandemic. Here are some mental health help and support helpline where you can seek for any assistance and counselling over the phone or online.

Kaan Pete Roi

Kaan Pete Roi, Bangladesh's first emotional support and suicide prevention helpline, is functional since 2013. Due to the alarming condition of people's mental health amid this pandemic, it has extended its operating hours of tele-counselling service with the help of SAJIDA Foundation. The main objective of this helpline is to provide a well-being platform where people dealing with disappointment, loneliness, mental pressure and suicidal tendency can share their mental health issues without the fear of being judged. Trained and empathetic volunteers are working seven days a week to assist people with all sorts of psychological, mental and emotional issues. Anyone with psychological problems ranging from small emotional issues like 'casually not feeling good' to dangerous conditions like 'being suicidal' can ask for help here. There is no appointment or charge required for this online service. Only normal call charge is applicable. Currently, their service is available from 3 PM to 3 AM over the phone and 9 PM to 3 AM on WhatsApp. For further details, visit their website: http://shuni.org/ or Facebook page 'Kaan Pete Roi'.

Moner Jotno Mobile E

Apart from its counselling activities, Kaan Pete Roi is working with BRAC and Psychological Health and Wellness Clinic (PHWC) to maintain a tele-counselling platform, 'Moner Jotno Mobile E' which has been launched in April 2020. This service is exclusively introduced to help people who are dealing with anxieties related to Covid-19 or due to Covid-19. Under this initiative, there is a team of 28 counsellors and psychologists who are trained in general counselling and clinical psychology. If you call on their hotline number (01709-817179), a counsellor will directly answer the call to help you out. You can share your issues within a confidential space. The responsibility of tele-counsellors is to hear out people with empathy and support them with well-being tips and suggestions to ease their anxiety. This tele-counselling service is available from 8 AM to 12 AM.

Moner Bondhu

Moner bondhu, with its dynamic team of skilled counsellors and experts, is providing care and mental support to people with anxiety. Since 2016, it has succeeded to reach 800,000 people through online platforms and over 100,000 people on different offline events. More than 1500 people have received their one-to-one counselling services so far here. To ensure social distancing and other safety measures, all the activities of Moner Bondhu have been made available online, for free. During this global crisis, they receive a hundred calls every day on Facebook and WhatsApp asking for mental health assistance. And recently they have launched their mental health care services on Imo, which is popular among migrant workers and RMG workers to be more inclusive in terms of helping people. Beside tele-counselling services, they offer video counselling through Skype and WhatsApp video calls. They are available for 24 hours. Furthermore, Moner Bondhu supports people via radio and TV programs such as 'Amar Moner Kotha' and 'Moner Kotha Phone er Kotha' respectively. Visit their website: http://monerbondhu.org/ or Facebook page 'Moner Bondhu' for more details.

Moner Daktar

MonerDakter has been developed amid this pandemic to provide psychological support. The Bangladesh Clinical Psychological Society (BCPS), Tele-psychiatry Research and Innovation Network (TRIN) and Clinical Psychological Department of Dhaka University have collaborated to initiate and maintain this platform which is comprised of a website and a mobile app. It can provide people with mental health assistance with the help of 72 psychologists from Clinical Psychological Department of Dhaka and BCPS. These psychologists are working voluntarily in this regard. To get any service from MonerDaktar, one needs to register on the website: https://monerdaktar.com/. Anyone can choose whether they want to have audio or video consultations with the psychologist they prefer. For some specific facilities, one needs to download the app which is available in Play Store.