Help Prevent Suicides. Support Suicide Prevention India Foundation.

Hi! I am a social impact professional living with Anxiety and Depression. I suffered from a back injury last year, after which my physical health also started to deteriorate. I took to the Ketogenic diet, regular work outs and finally discovered the joy of running. The results on my mind and body have been amazing. Running is that time when I literally only focus on my breath and it leaves no room for anxiety.

I lost around 20 kgs in 7 months and it has given me immense confidence and a sense of will power and control that one usually tends to lose when they have a mental illness.

I am running 5 km at the 2018 Pinkathon. I’m doing this to raise Rs. 25,000 for Suicide Prevention India Foundation (SPIF), a registered Section 8 company, which was founded by Nelson Vinod Moses, an award-winning mental health journalist. Nelson was motivated to found SPIF as he lost his best friend Ryan Bennett to suicide. For those who don’t know, India has the number of suicides (1.33 lakh in 2015) in the world and we have a death by suicide every four minutes.

The truth is: suicide is preventable. A friend, family member or a colleague can prevent suicide by recognising signs of suicide, responding with compassion, listening, and persuading the suicidal person to seek help.

SPIF aims to create an army of 25,000 “Gatekeepers” trained in suicide prevention over the next year to help save lives. For this it has tied up with QPR Institute -- the world’s leading provider of suicide prevention training programmes -- to launch a suite of online, classroom and blended suicide prevention training programmes. Starting February, any layperson will be able to take an online suicide prevention training on the SPIF website, and get a certificate from QPR Institute, giving them the confidence and tools to save lives lost to suicide.

In addition to the suicide prevention training programmes, SPIF is creating a mental health professionals directory to refer those who are suicidal and also launched a suicide survivor story project to talk of hope and positivity. Currently, all of activities of SPIF is self-funded by Nelson, but he needs monetary help to keep this journey going. Every rupee that you donate will help save a life, reduce the taboo around suicide, help bring out stories of suicide survivors, and tackle the scourge of suicide in India.

Please reach out to me to find out more about SPIF and why I support its activities.