After launching it in US, Australia, New Zealand and UK, Facebook has introduced an updated tool to prevent suicide in India, aimed to support people who have been struggling with self-injury or experiencing suicidal thoughts.
The tools—available in both English and Hindi has been developed in collaboration with mental health organisations—AASRA and The Live Love Laugh Foundation, with inputs from people who have had experienced with self-injury and suicides.
Users concerned about someone’s Facebook post that indicates suicidal tendencies can report the post anonymously —uploading a screenshot or URL of the post on to the suicide preventing page. After which, the tool will ask the individual concerned if they need help, and let the person know that ‘Someone who saw your post thinks that you might going through a difficult time. If you want support, we’d like to hep.’ They are then given the option to call or message a person they trust, seek help from the resources and ask for tips on how to deal with their problems, or contact a helpline to share their thoughts.
The feature also offers the person to skip the entire process and return to news feed, if the concern is unfounded.
In a statement to Indian Express, Ankhi Das, the public policy director of Facebook India, South and Central Asia said, ‘We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in. They prioritise the most serious reports like self-injury and send help and resources to those in distress.’
The initiative has been taken to save the lives by the help from its 1.65 strong community network.
With the updated tool, the feature will work on both desktop and mobile.
