History
| Inception | Maithri Foundation Trust | Inauguration | Patronage |
|Awareness
Programmes | Milestones |
Inception:
The mounting suicide rates in the early nineties of Kerala
was a matter of concern for many. The Center for Health Care Research and
Education, Rajagiri college of Social Sciences,
Kalamassery, organized a three-day national workshop on suicide proneness
among the people of Kerala in August 1994. The workshop resolved to work
towards setting up a suicide prevention center in Kochi. The search for a viable model for suicide prevention took
us to Sneha, Chennai and to the Befrienders’ Movement. With the active
support of Sneha, and the good wishes of numerous well-meaning friends, "Maithri" the first full-fledged suicide prevention
center in Kerala became operational in June 17th,
1995. The first visit caller to the center soon made his
appearance. The center was a dream come true for those who have been
working towards remedial measures for the growing suicide proneness among
the people of the state.
The word Maithri means ‘friendship’, friendship
that we offer to the lonely, desperate and suicidal fellow beings.
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Maithri Foundation Trust:
In order to ensure that Maithri functioned with freedom and
without interference from anyone, those who pioneered the movement created
Maithri Foundation Trust and got it registered as a public charitable
trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1952. The following persons are the trustees of the Foundation:
1. Fr. Jose Alex, Director, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences,
Kalamassery (President)
2. Mr. P.O.George, Social Development Consultant, Thrissur (Secretary)
3. Dr. C.J.John, Psychiatrist, Medical Trust Hospital, Ernakulam
(Trustee)
4. Mr. N.R. Menon, Director, Master Coaching Board, Ernakulam
(Trustee)
5. Dr. George Joseph, Psychiatrist, Kusumagiri Mental Health Center,
Kakkanad (Trustee)
6. Secretary, Social Work, S.H. Province, Kalamassery. (Ex.Officio
Member)
7. Director Maithri, Kochi (Ex. Officio Member),
8. Coordinator, Maithri, Kochi ( Ex.Officio Member), and
9. Two members elected from the volunteers of Maithri, Kochi
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Inauguration of Maithri and Suicide prevention with
people’s participation :
The mounting suicide rates in the early nineties was a matter
of concern for many. The Center for Health Care Research and Education
organized a three-day national workshop on suicide proneness among the
people of Kerala in August 1994. The workshop resolved to work towards
setting up a suicide prevention center in Kochi. The search for a viable
model for suicide prevention took us to Sneha, Chennai and to the
Befrienders’ Movement. With the active support of Sneha, and the good
wishes of numerous well-meaning friends Maithri was inaugurated on17th
June, 1995. The first batch had twenty two volunteers, selected and
trained by Sneha.
The word Maithri means ‘friendship’- friendship
that we offer to the lonely, desperate and suicidal fellow beings. The
motto of Maithri is ‘suicide prevention with people’s
participation.’
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Patronage of Rajagiri College of Social Sciences:
The patronage and support form the Rajagiri college of Social
Sciences, Kalamassery proved to be a major strength of the nascent
organization. This helped in dispelling the misgivings of the people with
regard to the feasibility of organizing a suicide prevention programme.
Maithri was promoted and initially supported by the Center for Health Care
Research and Education, an extension department of the college. In the
early phase, the project functioned from Sahrudaya building, on Rajagiri
Road, Kalamassery owned by the Sacred Heart Province of the CMI
congregation.
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Awareness Programmes:
Along with the center-based crisis intervention programme
Maithri has been conducting numerous public awareness campaigns. The
message being promoted is that everyone can help to prevent a friend,
family member, colleague or anybody else in distress from killing himself
or herself. ‘Allowing a person to ventilate himself, and listening with
empathy and concern will show positive results’ - is Maithri’s central
message. Maithri has organized several public awareness programmes for
teachers, community leaders, anganwady workers, students, general public
at large etc. Jeevan Maithri has been such a project undertaken by the
Maithri volunteers. Awareness sessions, exhibitions, training programmes
etc. have been organized for different groups. Maithri has been receiving
generous support of the media all along.
Any organization in Kerala wanting to organize
awareness sessions for any group of people may get in touch with the Director
of Maithri.
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Milestones:
Maithri volunteers can identify several
milestones which had shaped the organization’s destiny and at the same
time shaped the suicide prevention movement in the state. The important
milestones:
Milestones
June
17th, 1998 - JEEVANMAITHRI - Training program to identify suicide-risk launched:
The programme envisaged imparting skills to grassroots level
workers like school teachers, local leaders, anganwady workers, religious
personnel etc to identify those experiencing personal distress and befriending them. The essence of befriending is listening the distressed person
with empathy, accepting him as he is, and offering him
unconditional emotional support .An out-reach program to train 75 persons of Kalamassery Municipality in skills to identify persons with suicide risk
was launched in June 1998. The program was named "Jeevan
Maithri" - meaning Life Friendship. Former Union Minister Late Mr. MM
Thomas inaugurated the function.
A more recent initiative in 2002 of Maithri was the
coordinated effort to conduct awareness programmes in every division of
the Corporation of Kochi. The programme was launched at a well
attended public function held in the Ernakulam Town Hall on 17th June, 2002. The worshipful Mayor of Kochi, Shri. Dinesh Mani was the chief
guest. It was significant that every such awareness session in the
Corporation divisions was attended by the local councilor.
The
questionnaire (in Malayalam) "Befriending
Approaches for You" was developed in connection with Jeevan
Maithri. It describes four real-life situations where one comes
across persons undergoing emotional distress. The questionnaire gives
an idea about the right approaches to be adopted towards individuals who
are despairing and who may be suicidal also.
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October
17th, 1998: Befriending Centre shifted to Kochi City
Initially, the befriending center was functioning at
Sahridaya Building, Rajagiri Road, Kalamassery. As most of the callers and
volunteers of Maithri came from the city, it was imperative that the
center was shifted to a more accessible location. The volunteers’ dream
came true on October 17th, 1998 when the Center started functioning from
Vimalalayam Buildings, Ashirbhavan Road, Kacheripady, Kochi. Professor M K
Sanu M.L.A. inaugurated the new home of Maithri and hailed it as "a
social anchor for continuing interest in life".
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May 1999: Round the clock vigil to help students in
distress:
Children's education has been a stress producing situation for the parents as
well as the students in Kerala. Maithri volunteers had noticed that the stress levels peak
at the time of examinations and the announcement of results. Publication
of S.S.L.C. and C.B.S.E. X standard examination results has been
one such occasion resulting in self inflicted deaths among students.
From the year 1999 Maithri volunteers have been keeping a round
the clock vigil at the center for one week, keeping our telephone
lines open. This vigil has been found beneficial and every year
on an average about 300 calls have been received from distressed
students and parents. We have continued this service ever since.
Taking a cue from the experience of Maithri, every year
crisis help lines become operational around the announcement of results.
The volunteers are happy that their initiative has been a catalyst for the
government and the NGOs to offer similar programmes. This program was
received well by the media and the public at large. Befrienders Worldwide has commended this initiative as "creative".
This
program is being continued every year during the time examination results
are announced.
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November
19th, 1999: Befrienders India Conference hosted
Volunteers
at Maithri have always felt a sense of belonging to the larger Samaritans
Movement. When Befrienders India chose Maithri
to host their National Conference in Kochi, it was a great recognition bestowed on our small, young organisation. The trust and confidence
reposed in us were indeed honoured and the conference was conducted with
exemplary efficiency, during the 19th, 20th and 21st of November,1999. Several
individuals whose works pioneered suicide prevention in India attended -
among them, Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar (Sneha, Chennai) and Ms. Mallika
Gulwady (then President of Befrienders India).
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November 11th, 2005: 10th anniversary and National Conference
Maithri celebrated the tenth anniversary on 10th June 2005, with various
awareness programmes. In connection with Maithri's 10th anniversary, we
hosted the 12th national conference of Befrienders India on 11th, 12th and
13th November 2005 at Asirbhavan, Kacheripady, Ernakulam. Apart from
Maithri, eight of the Indian centres participated in the conference. They
presented papers in the business session on the subject "Befriending" and
its various aspects. Four members from the Sumithrayo, Srilanka
participated in the whole event.
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October 2nd 2007: Maithri centre shifted
to Kalamassery
Maithri shifted to the present location on October 2nd, the Gandhi
Jayanthi day of 2007. The centre is
by the side of the NH 47 at Pathadippalam, Kalamassery and easily accessible by road.
The nearest major railway
stations are Ernakulam and Aluva. This serene place of the ICTA Shantigram
campus is near to the
industrial sector of Kalamassery and various information technology
centres.
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Maithri Institute for Research and Outreach (MIRO)
MIRO is an initiative by Maithri Foundation Trust to reach out to the vulnerable sections of the population, and to generate greater awareness regarding suicide.
Specific Objectives:
- Generation of reliable primary data on suicide in Kerala, and making this database readily available to the public.
- Undertaking intensive programmes to spread awareness regarding the preventability of suicide.
- Organising training programmes for specific groups such as students, patients, co-workers, families etc to enable them to effectively deal with emotional problems among themselves.
- Reaching out to vulnerable groups such as children, adolescents, senior citizens & chronically ill persons.
MIRO is located at
H-2104, Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium Complex
Kaloor, Kochi – 682017, Kerala.
Phone +91 953 90 70 210, +91 484 40 30 210
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