GEORGE TOWN: Penang Befrienders may extend its calling hours to assist those in need.
Its chairman Damian Lee Wan Tong said currently his team was getting a high number of calls between 9pm and midnight, and with the calls being made free-of-charge, people tend to talk longer.
“Usually, they will talk for about half an hour, but now some calls are going on for over an hour.
“Before the free-call, we receive about 3,000 to 4,000 calls monthly, which we managed with 71 of our volunteers.
“If we can get more, let’s say double the volunteers, then we can go with round-the-clock service to help the people,” he told newsmen during the 'Lost All Hope, Suicide Ideation & Stigma - Working Together to Prevent Suicide' public forum at Komtar today.
Even though the Penang branch did not offer late night service, Lee said the Kuala Lumpur line was available 24 hours.
“If we can, maybe we can try with extending 12pm to midnight service instead of the 3pm to midnight, but it is the matter of manpower,” he said.
Lee said the most common calls made to Penang Befrienders were from those who were lonely and only needed someone to talk to.
He said while they would still entertain such calls, their priority was to attend to other more urgent calls.
Current trend shows that young people, between 15 and 30, often reached out to them through emails instead of calls.
“This is probably because they want to avoid confrontation. They can take their time to write down the problems.
“We can predict their age group through the issues they face such as school-related issues, or college-related issues,” he said.
Penangites can reach out to Befrienders at 04-281 5161 or 04-281 1108.