More than 90 per cent of suicides in the world can be prevented through proper counselling, said B.J. Prashantham, an expert international counsellor and Director of the Christian Counselling Centre (CCC), Vellore.
Delivering the special address at the Convocation of the 23rd Batch of In-Service Course at the Academy of Prisons and Correctional Administration (APCA) here on Thursday, Dr. Prashantham said that it is disturbing to note that there is an increasing resort to suicides among the people around the world, and especially in India.
A suicide is reported every 40 seconds and an attempt to suicide every two seconds in the world. The incidence of suicides is more in India.
Suicidal tendencies
“One cannot stop a determined person from committing suicide, but the experience of CCC shows that we can save more than 90 per cent of the persons having suicidal tendencies through proper counselling. The CCC has saved more than 500 persons with suicidal tendencies from committing the act by counselling them to pursue alternative methods to solve the problems to escape from which they wanted to commit suicide” he said.
Pointing out that reformation of the prisoners is one of the three major responsibilities of the officials managing the prisons, the CCC Director said that learning counselling skills will help them in the task of reformation of the prisoners through counselling.
Medal presented
Earlier, Dr. Prashantham presented the Best All Rounder Medal (sponsored by the Tamil Nadu Police Department) to S.S. Preethy, Assistant Jail Superintendent, Kerala.
He also presented other medals, awards and to the meritorious officer trainees and the participants.
A.Badarudeen, Director (full additional charge), APCA said that 14 officers comprising six from Kerala, one from Jammu & Kashmir, two from Karnataka and five from Tamil Nadu received the in-service training.
Training
'They were given training both in indoor and outdoor subjects.
A South India study tour to study the various aspects of prison administration practised in different states was organised as part of the course. They were given counselling at CCC, Vellore, and were sent to Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development, Sriperumbudur for a two-day module on Gender Sensitization.
At the end of the training, the officers had a written examination in prison and correctional administration, computer applications, viva voce and submission of assignments to qualify for their course completion.
Apart from regular indoor and outdoor subjects, the officers were given training in human rights in prison management, communication skills, personality development, seeing is learning, change management course, course on mental health for prisoners, first aid and electrical safety.
T.M. Vijayaraghavalu, senior advocate and guest lecturer of APCA spoke. A. Mathan Raj, Lecturer, APCA proposed a vote of thanks.
