Facebook adds new suicide prevention tools in India

Mangalore Today News Network

June 15, 2016: The seemingly unrelated statements have a thread in common. If these are status updates on social networking sites, chances are the individuals posting them could be potentially suicidal, feel mental health experts.

 

It has been increasingly seen that a person who committed suicide, tried to convey something to virtual friends through status messages before taking the extreme step. A little alertness on part of the social media users, hence, can help save many lives.

At Facebook, an initiative has been taken in this direction for its 1.65-billion strong community. The social networking site launched the feature in India Tuesday, introducing updated tools and educational resources to help support people who may be struggling with self-injury or experiencing suicidal thoughts.

 

Developed in collaboration with mental health organisations, and with inputs from people who have had personal experience with self-injury and suicide, these tools will be in English and Hindi. Facebook has AASRA and the Live Love Laugh Foundation as its local partners in India.

If a post by someone makes you concerned about the well-being of the person, you can now reach out to them directly, and discreetly, on Facebook and also ‘report’ the post.

“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,” says Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook – India, South & Central Asia.

While Facebook already had a feature since 2011 to report potentially suicidal content, the updated tools promise to provide critical resources for the person in need, and also for their concerned friends and family.

Until now, one had to seek out Facebook’s suicide prevention page and upload a screenshot or URL of the post. But now, this support will be built directly into the posts. “These updates bring the latest experience—the expanded options to reach out to a friend, contact a helpline, or see tips—to everyone around the world,” says Das.

The feature, which works on both desktop and mobile, was launched in the US in early 2015, and then rolled out in Australia, New Zealand and the UK later that year.

“Depending on which country someone is located in, over 50 organisations providing local services are available in the new experience and we will continue to add new organisations as they become available. We worked with mental health organisations including Forefront, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Save.org, Samaritans, and others on these updates, in addition to consulting with people with real-life experience with self-injury or suicide. Today, we are rolling them out in India in collaboration with local partners AASRA and The Live Love Laugh Foundation in English and Hindi,” says Das.

Once a post is flagged, the checkpoint begins by asking “can we help?” and lets the person know that “Someone who saw your post thinks you might be going through a difficult time. If you want support, we’d like to help”.

The users are then offered the options to message or call someone they trust, contact a helpline to share their problems, or seek self-help advice from resources and get tips on how they can work through these feelings. The individual can skip the entire process and go back to the news feed if the concern is unfounded.