Legal services authority starts mental health counselling amid Covid-19 lockdown in Chandigarh

To make an appointment, people can contact the authority through local helpline numbers, 70871- 12348, 1516 and 15100

The state legal services authority (SLSA) in association with department of health, Chandigarh, has started counselling sessions for the public over phone.

Rising cases of anxiety and depression are being reported amid the Covid-19 lockdown

The services were started following directions from Justice Jaswant Singh, judge at the Punjab and Haryana high court-cum-executive chairman of the SLSA.

“The present scenario amid the Covid-19 lockdown has lead to an unprecedented change in lifestyle and had a huge impact on the mental health of people. Cases of depression and anxiety have been rising and become a huge concern,” an official statement said.

The statement mentioned how people do not have access to authentic and credible information regarding medical misconceptions being circulated, leading to anxiety.

The counseling sessions will be conducted from 3pm to 5pm on all working days by medical officer Dr Nisha and clinical psychologist Urvashi. They will be free of cost and complete patient – doctor confidentiality will be maintained, the statement added.

“To make an appointment, people can contact the authority through local helpline numbers, 70871- 12348, 1516 and 15100. After the appointment is fixed, the client will receive a call during the allotted time,” as per the statement.

“The project is its preliminary stage and depending on the response, the possibility of scaling it up will be considered,” the statement added.

Mahavir Singh, member secretary, SLSA, and Ashok Kumar Mann, CJM-cum-secretary, district legal services authority, will be in-charge of monitoring the ground level implementation of the programme.