Bhubaneswar: Lockdown stress can be daunting, and overwhelming. While some people can deal with it easily, several others face tremendous troubles doing so.
To help people in distress, Gilehrio, supported by Unmukt Foundation, came up with ‘Sunshine by Gilehrio’ initiative.
The completely free and compassionate initiative was launched April 5, 2020 and aims at providing phone call psychological assistance to people who have been going through mental exhaustion and frustration owing to lockdown.
Initially, a team of five volunteers are taking calls from 8-11 PM. If there is more demand, Gilehrio team will add further time slots and volunteers.
Cofounder of Unmukt Foundation Shweta Agarwal said, “Our objective is to listen. We are not health professionals, and this is not professional help. We are here to listen to anyone who is going through a tough time during the lockdown and would like to talk to someone. They can call us, speak to us anonymously and without judgement. Our guidelines are very clear we can’t reveal our identity or any personal details,” said Shweta.
Within two days of launch, there have been seven phone calls and 4020 seconds of sunshine.
“What we also try is to direct them in a positive manner. For people living alone, this could be a nightmare. We are here to remind them they are not alone. Here is a community ready to listen and pay attention to whatever’s on their mind. We want to give them positivity, purpose and a community feeling,” said founder of Gilherio Surya Narayan Mishra.
He added Sunshine by Gilehrio helpline is live from 8-11pm every night on +918114864246. The helpline can also be reached at sunshine@gilehrio.com.
He went to add that apart from phone, they are also available on email, Facebook page, messenger and Instagram.