Suicide Prevention Workshop At Gurgaon Prison
Team of Humanisinglives’s went to the Gurgaon prison to facilitate a workshop on “Suicide Prevention” with prison inmates in collaboration with India Vision Foundation.
Our main goal was to provide them an experiential space to help them acknowledge that their personal journeys may be different but they all go through the same human emotions, which are moulded by their collective experience inside that prison.
In midst of the workshop, we observed that somewhere they all wanted to be heard...they all had similar stories and traumatic experiences.
Incarceration takes a serious toll on mental health for several reasons.
1.People can experience a loss of purpose when they’re locked up.
2. The loss of sense of self can be quite disorienting, confusing, and troublesome.
3. Missing their loved ones and not being part of their daily lives increases feelings of isolation and loneliness.
4. Concrete walls, little natural night, and a lack of overall stimulation can take a serious toll on mental health.
A lack of psychiatrists, psychologists and dysfunctional state machinery is contributing to worsening mental health conditions in prisons. Treating people during incarceration and providing access to mental health after they’re released may reduce recidivism rates
One-day online Workshop on the theme of ‘Mental Health Problems and Suicide Prevention in Prisons’.
Suicide is often the single most common cause of death in correctional settings. Jails, prisons and penitentiaries are responsible for protecting the health and safety of their inmate populations, and the failure to do so, can be open to legal challenge.
Therefore, The Institute of Correctional Administration
(ICA), Chandigarh conducted a one-day online Workshop on the theme of ‘Mental Health Problems and Suicide Prevention in Prisons’.
Our Assistant psychologist Sidhartha Arya took a insightful session with State Prison Officers and highlighted the issues and early signs of suicide to promote preventative measures with the aim to reduce the number of suicides in prisons.
Few take aways from workshops are as under-
The importance of winning in small task daily.
Checking our negative thoughts and examining the evidence if they are true or not.
How Information feeding results in our thoughts and then feelings and behaviour.
Importance of active listening.
How different activities in jail can improve the overall culture organically.
Thanks to Dr Upneet Lalli Deputy Director ,ICA.
Inst of Correctional Adm. for her guidance and support.