In Macau people are facing escalating pressures caused by work, family, increasing crime and other problems that have the potential to lead to suicide in severe cases.The Macau Psychology Research Society is setting up a suicide prevention and crisis intervention center, as well as launching a 24-hour hotline to help people mitigate these psychological pressures and improve psychological health and wellbeing with an aim to avoid tragic consequences. The society will establish a website for counseling / mental health prevention and intervention – which, due to privacy concerns, can be used by the public anonymously.
Ng Wa, Chartered President and Director General of the Society said the hotline will be up and running to serve the public by May as part of a “Center for Investigative Studies on Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention”. The center will be set up jointly with the Southern Medical University in China, to gather a group of professionals in psychological assessment, counseling, and therapy, as well as social workers, psychiatric experts, and negotiators, to study the development and reasons for suicide, together with building a database for analysis with an objective to formulate measures for proper engagement, prevention and corrective services for people with suicidal tendencies.
In addition to managing publicity and running seminars and educational programs, the center will also operate the line. Macau Caritas has been operating a similar service for suicide prevention but Ng Wa said the society’s hotline puts more emphasis on psychological aspects and the people who will be answering the calls are trained professionals and psychological experts experienced in dealing with people with a possible tendency towards taking their own lives.
As another major program planned for 2013, the society is also teaming up with Southern Medical University and Taiwan’s Tamkang University to operate a training scheme for Macau workers on how to deal with the psychological conditions they face in the office, such as work pressure, fatigue, and subsequent emotional problems. The society hopes the specialized training courses (EAP) for company employees in Macau will improve mental health awareness, which will hopefully lead to greater harmony in the work-
place and therefore increased productivity.
Separately, the society will cooperate with the Association of Rehabilitation for Drug Abusers of Macau, to provide treatment combining western methodologies with Chinese medicine, to help abusers “kick the habit” utilizing more innovative approaches.
The society will also train “Sunshine Ambassador” students in some schools to help in the fight against juvenile delinquency.
The Macau Psychology Research Society was established by frontline psychologists and workers from the healthcare and other professions. All members have degrees in psychology or a professional qualification in mental counseling, therapy, mental supervision, psychological counseling or social work.