The Rotary Club of Kalimpong held an awareness talk about suicide prevention on 19/9/24 at its Centre. World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually on the 10th of September internationally. This year the theme was ‘Changing the Narrative on Suicide’ with the call to action to ‘Start the Conversation.’ The guest speaker at today’s Rotary talk was Mr Kustov Parajuli. He is a Psychiatric Social Worker associated with the District Hospital. He is also the President of the NGO Manshikta. His talk disseminated information about QPR Gatekeepers. There are many myths surrounding suicide including the fact that it is not preventable. This is completely wrong. Using the tools of QPR (questioning, persuasion and referral) suicides maybe prevented by gatekeepers who are identified as people who are listened to for eg parents and teachers. Every year 720,000 people die worldwide from suicide. Awareness must be spread and conversations must be had so that the culture of silence and stigma towards suicide be changed to one of openness, understanding and support. The helpline for suicide prevention is 14416.
