National Tele Mental Health Programme

About National Tele Mental Health Programme:

 

• Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele MANAS) has been launched during October 2022.
• Aims: It aims to provide free tele-mental health services all over the country round the clock, particularly catering to people in remote or under-served areas.
• There are 42 active Tele Manas cells across 31 states and Union Territories.
• The service is accessible through the toll-free numbers with options to choose preferred languages (20 languages included till now).
• Tele-MANAS will be organised in two tier system:
  • Tier 1: It comprises of state Tele-MANAS cells which include trained counsellors and mental health specialists.
  • Tier 2: It will comprise of specialists at District Mental Health Programme (DMHP)/Medical College resources for physical consultation and/or e-Sanjeevani for audio visual consultation.
• Services offered by Tele MANAS:
  • Tele counselling by trained counsellors.
  • Tele Consultation by Mental Health professionals when required.
  • Referral Services to other Mental Health Establishments such as Medical Colleges, District Mental Health Program (DMHP) services and speciality institutes.

 

About National Mental Health Programme (NMHP):

• The Government of India has launched the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in 1982, with the following objectives:
  • To ensure the availability and accessibility of minimum mental healthcare for all in the foreseeable future, particularly to the most vulnerable and underprivileged sections of the population;
  • To encourage the application of mental health knowledge in general healthcare and in social development;
  • To promote community participation in the mental health service development and to stimulate efforts towards self-help in the community.
• The District Mental Health Program (DMHP) was launched under NMHP in the year 1996. The DMHP was based on ‘Bellary Model’ with the following components:
  • Early detection & treatment.
  • Training: imparting short term training to general physicians for diagnosis and treatment of common mental illnesses with limited number of drugs under guidance of specialist. The Health workers are being trained in identifying mentally ill persons.
  • IEC: Public awareness generation.
  • Monitoring: the purpose is for simple Record Keeping.

 

 

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Q1) What is Tele-Counseling?

Tele-counselling, also known as online therapy, e-counselling, or distance counselling, is a form of psychotherapy that is conducted over the internet. It is a convenient and affordable way to get help for mental health issues.Tele-counselling sessions typically take place through video conferencing softwares.The therapist and client can see and hear each other, and they can also share documents and files.

Source: Govt's mental health helpline Tele-Manas receives over 2 lakh calls since launch