"Sometimes the young person calls us after their problem is solved to thank us, which gives us a lot of encouragement," Psychologist.
LAHORE:
The Punjab Youth Helpline has received 781 phone calls from across the province in its first two months of operation, most of them from students with academic concerns.
The toll-free helpline, the first of its kind in the Punjab, received an average of around 15 calls a day between December 3 and February 9 (the helpline was suspended for two weeks as construction work near their offices in the Gaddafi Stadium area resulted in a severing of phone connections).
Of the 781 calls received, 287 callers (36.75%) sought help with academic issues, while 206 (26.38%) sought help with “psychological issues”. Ninety (11.52%) callers sought information, 82 asked for career advice (10.5%) and 26 (2.69%) wanted guidance on health issues.
A majority of the callers, 482 (61.72%) were male, 264 (33.8%) were female, while one identified themselves as transgender. Twenty-six callers (3.33%) remained silent, while eight (1.02%) were crank callers.
The most calls came from Lahore, 240, followed by Islamabad, 36, Faisalabad, 34, Multan, 33, Gujranwala, 31, Muzaffargarh, 25, Rawalpindi, 19, Gujrat, 18, Sahiwal, 18, Bahwalpur, 17, and Toba Tek Singh, 16. Some calls were made from outside the Punjab, including 10 from Karachi.
A majority of the callers, 308, said they learnt about the helpline through the internet. Some 158 learnt about it from relatives, 155 through SMS, 41 through newspapers, 39 from friends and 21 from posters.
The helpline (0800-12145) is open seven days a week from 9am to 5pm and is currently manned by three psychologists and two career counsellors. The identities of the callers are kept confidential. “We don’t have the facility to call back. We allot a number to the caller so that if she/he calls again, the case history can be brought up immediately,” said one of the psychologists working at the helpline.
“Sometimes the young person calls us after their problem is solved to thank us, which gives us a lot of encouragement,” another psychologist said.
“Currently, the traffic is not very heavy but it’s increasing every day as more and more young people are getting to know about this,” said Iftikhar Mubarik, project coordinator for Plan International Pakistan, which is currently running the helpline.
“We expect the calls to go above 50 per day quite soon and we may need more experts to answer calls. In a society like Pakistan, where youths cannot sometimes share their problems with teachers, parents or friends, the helpline is a good platform for them to get guidance on various issues,” Mubarik said.
The helpline, launched by the government as part of its Punjab Youth Policy, will be run by Plan for a year. “After one year of operation, the government will run it on its own,” said Mubarik. “The building from which the helpline is operating is owned by the Punjab government while the salaries and other expenses are currently being paid by Plan.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2013.
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