KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu (KK) Befrienders is seeing an increasing trend of depression, with more individuals reaching out to the non-governmental organisation for emotional support.
Although no figure was given, KK Befrienders publicity director Jessie Yong told the New Straits Times, most of the calls and text messages received as at July this year, were from young men.
“This showed that men have become more open (and are willing) to talk about their problems. These individuals seek our help because they are depressed,” she said, adding that most of their problems stemmed from their family’s high expectations, career-wise and financially too.
“In KK, we see this (trend) is increasing among men. The women, too, are reaching out to us for emotional support,” she said when contacted.
In responding to the series of people committing and attempting suicide in the state this year, Yong said the public needs to be aware of signs of depression in their loved ones to help prevent any untoward incident.
She stressed on the importance of communication and family support when dealing with depressed and distressed individuals.
“Early this year, there have been continuous cases of suicide and this is worrying. Based on news report, most of these cases occurred because the victims have no support from family members and are reluctant to share their feelings.
“At KK Befrienders, we encourage people to contact us and talk about their problems. We also protect their identity. We have a team of volunteers who are trained to listen to these callers because just by talking about (one’s) feelings can help to alleviate the person’s distress.”
Yong said KK Befrienders is also focusing on staying active on social media to reach out to those who are in need of its services. This, she said, included Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp application.
“Based on our observation, we have received a lot of text messages via our WhatsApp line for those who don’t want to talk. It is increasing and we also received texts from individuals residing in the Peninsular.
“I think these individuals prefer to text because they (feel) nervous talking about their feelings and that texting is a safer environment for them to communicate,” she said.
Yong said they had recently received a text from a parent via Messenger, who sought the NGO’s guidance to handle his 14-year-old son who was feeling suicidal.
“So, we guide him what to do to calm the child and to monitor him. In this case, the child was a good student but he felt isolated. Loneliness was what drove the child to attempting suicide,” she pointed out.
She added that KK Befrienders would continue to conduct workshop to increase awareness on mental health issues by engaging parents and children.
KK Befrienders listeners are available at Helpline 088-255788 (Talk) and 016-8036945 (WhatsApp chat) from 7pm to 10pm every night.