Commissioner of Police Shankar Jiwal on Saturday inaugurated a Centre for Police Well-Being for rendering special counselling and to treat police personnel with suicidal tendencies and alcohol addiction. This was first of its kind programme to cover at least 1,000 police personnel in the next three months.
A comprehensive wellness programme called the “police well-being training” was rolled out with the assistance of experts from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Bengaluru, in 2018.
After inauguration of the new centre at Guru Nanak College in Velachery, Mr. Jiwal said that already the police well-being training programme was under way. “The well-being 2.0 programme is a targeted programme for the most vulnerable group of police personnel, from a mental health point of view. Under it, treatment and counselling will be given to personnel with suicidal thoughts, personnel with a history of misbehaviour with the public or colleagues or family members and alcohol addicts,” he said.
“Around 1,000 persons will be counselled and treated at the centre for three months. Individual counselling, family counselling, and de-addiction programmes are also conducted to the personnel,” said Mr. Jiwal.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed with M.S. Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation, Madurai, for conducting the programme. To start with, persons addicted to alcohol will be treated first.
Psychologists and social workers will visit the houses of police personnel based on the recommendation of the NIMHANS team.
