“We’re not miracle workers, but we’re definitely a necessary resource.”
These are the words of one of the many volunteers assisting at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s (Sadag) 24/7 call centre.
Palesa Thulo, a BA (Honours) psychology student, has been working as a volunteer for the organisation for a little more than a year. She spoke during Sadag’s commemoration of world suicide prevention day at their head office in Rivonia, Sandton.
The organisation also marked its 30-year anniversary.
Thulo explained how she got involved with Sadag and her own mental health challenges.
She was diagnosed with depression and, at a younger age, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“Volunteering was an experience I wanted because I wanted to understand what I'm getting involved with. And with psychology, you can go to different organisations [to volunteer] ... but to actually practise what you're learning [is something else], because it's not easy to put into practice what you learn as a psychology student. That's why my mom suggested I sign up for Sadag.
“It was a challenge to think about how I was going to talk somebody down that has drank 50 pills or how was I going to ... help someone else when I was struggling. But Sadag is a community where we support one another, and I think what I have loved about being able to volunteer here is the fact that there is purpose. I see the work we're doing,” she said.
Thulo works in different units, including the Cipla helpline.
And while she heaped praise on the organisation for the strong support it offers those who need help and its volunteers, she also detailed one of the lowest moments — dealing with a suicide case three months into the job.
She labelled the call a “very tough” one to handle, but said she was grateful the person called in and got the “necessary tools” to get through it.
“We’re not miracle workers, but we’re definitely a necessary resource and I always say that even if we’re somebody’s last resort, I am grateful that we are their last resort. Even if we are the last people that you call, we are here as your support system.
“We will sit on the phone with you for as long as we need to sit on the phone with you. I think it helped me in my own mental health journey and how I can support myself and reach out to the people closest to me, but I think we give people hope in knowing that they can call in for free and sit on the phone with us and that we'll support them through whatever challenges they are going through,” she said.
Rat poison is one of our biggest ones and what we are finding is that schools themselves don't know what to do in a crisis. So three weeks ago, we had two pupils who had taken rat poison in the morning and their friends had taken them to the sick room but the school didn't know how to deal with it.
— Roshni Parbhoo-Seetha
Adding to this was Sarah Hards, who works as the weekend supervisor and school outreach team leader.
She explained that while the call centre, which averages about 2,500-3,000 calls per day, was frequently busy, there were “certain times of the month” where the volumes increased, when people are struggling financially, as well as holidays such as Valentine's Day and Christmas Day. This is when people are often at their loneliest.
“It’s scary that you see how much, even on a holiday like Christmas, you will have quite a few suicide calls,” she said.
Sadag marked the day with a focus on teen suicide prevention. This saw a series of discussions on the topic by several guest speakers, including Zamo Mbele and Roshni Parbhoo-Seetha, who spoke on teen suicide, suicide contagion as well as Sadag's school talk programme.
Parbhoo-Seetha said the “suicide should not be a secret” schools initiative has reached more than 120,000 pupils and more than 3,000 teachers.
Sharing some of the findings from the outreach programme, she said one of the concerns flagged were the number of suicide attempts happening at or before school starts.
“Rat poison is one of our biggest ones and what we are finding is that schools themselves don't know what to do in a crisis. So three weeks ago, we had two pupils who had taken rat poison in the morning and their friends had taken them to the sick room, but the school didn't know how to deal with it,” she said.
“In terms of rat poison [we found that] it’s cheap, for R10 you can walk to the corner shop and just buy it. You don’t have to be a certain age, you can be anyone and it’s sitting there and easily accessible,” she said.
Mbele spoke about the warning signs to look for in suicidal cases for the importance of prevention.
• For more information, Sadag's website
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