Telephone counseling service 'Sparsh'

In Indian culture, even though Vatsyayan composed a great book called 'Kamasutra' in the hymns of Shrungararas centuries ago, hundreds of years ago, great sculptors revealed Shrungar through the exquisite sculptures of Khajuraho, but according to Indian tradition and customs, sexuality and sex are also discussed. Indians are also reluctant to do such things with their friends.

The rate of sex education is negligible in India. In such an environment, people have no choice but to resolve their problems. Eliminating misconceptions and misconceptions, the tools to get the right information are not available to the public.

Is Breast Milk the Best for Infants? Do birth control pills increase body fat? Is it advisable to live under one roof with a person with AIDS? Does kissing spread AIDS? - The answer to many such questions is with a service called 'Sparsh'.

Just ring a phone and a wealth of information and treatment is available to you! Yes, India's first telephone information and counseling service known as 'Sparsh'. This first 'tele-information service' has the capability to solve various services such as telephone counseling, fertility and health issues, companionship and sexuality and intelligence issues.

This telephone information center - SPARSH, was first run on an experimental basis in Delhi, from May 17 to March 19. And with great success, the service expanded to Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

There is no doubt that this telephony service called Sparsh will prove to be very effective, useful and relieving for Indians who want to solve physical and mental problems.

Sparsh is the psychic offspring of a voluntary 'Parivar Seva Sanstha'. The organization, without expecting any profit, works for family planning and the health of children and mothers. Founded in 1918, the Delhi-based organization is affiliated with Mary Stopes International in England. The organization runs social welfare centers in fifteen states and union territories of India.

Family Welfare Clinic, Mobile Hospital, Anganwadi, Family Planning and activities are run by Family Service Organization. Behind the success of the family service organization is the use of advanced methods, advanced information and the use of advanced technology of education exchange.

Touch service, launched with the two main objectives of telephone counseling and information exchange, is a summary of the experiences of other projects of the family service organization. In general, Indians are embarrassed, ashamed and hesitant to talk about issues related to their culture, fertility, sexuality and family planning.

Most people are reluctant to acknowledge such a problem. Such patients need an address where they can describe their problems without any restrictions, get guidance. Touch service like touch is also essential to avoid the horrible monster of AIDS, which spreads especially fierce claws.

Urvashi Guha, project executive of Parivar Seva Sanstha, explains, “Sparsh is one such organization. Where people can solve problems even by keeping their identities secret. If you are going to meet an expert counselor, sit down with him and describe the problems, two questions are likely to arise, first, the person's identity will be revealed.

Many sincere people want to hide their true identities when it comes to such problems. Second, on the first visit, in the presence of the counselor sitting at the opposite table, the person feels ashamed and embarrassed to state his problems. While only the voice of a person can be heard on the telephone service of touch. And without being ashamed or embarrassed, people are willing to talk about their problems.

Regarding the naming of touch, Uvarshi Guha says that the name is aptly named. We were looking for a name with a proper meaning. Touch here means reaching out to a person's problems by extending a hand. Also of Sanskrit origin, this name is known in all languages ​​of India. So touch is a reasonable name for this type of tele-counseling service.

The identity of the person receiving help by touch telephone is kept completely confidential. With the help of a counselor the problem of these individuals is solved. Launched on an experimental basis in Delhi, the service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 7 am to 7 pm with expert counselors available on the service. Each person is given a code number after the first phone call to keep the identities of the people contacted confidential. Under this code number, the required information about the person is stored in the computer. The second time during the phone call, the person has to give only the code number. Suggestions and treatments can be done easily.

According to Uvarshi Guha, the callers need specialists and top doctors. Often, this service does not have the required information, or the advice of a major specialist is needed for the patient's problem, and necessarily persuades the person to seek the advice of such specialists. , And also to the appropriate doctors. For gynecologists, for example, we would refer patients to the Mary Stopes Clinic, a family service organization, and advise them to go to a friendly clinic when they need in-depth counseling.

Under Touch, all working counselors have a master's degree in social work and are highly trained and qualified specialists in telephone counseling and have the ability to provide the right guidance to a person.

A lot of interesting information was learned during the touch service which was started in Delhi for ten months on an experimental basis and this unique experience taught a lot to the family service organization. About 4% of the callers to the service were men, and the number of unmarried men was much higher than that of married men. According to Urvashi Guha, since men are out of business, they have more opportunity to make telephone calls which may lead to more men.

In addition, women often find it easier to talk to doctors about their problems, or men feel inferior and inferior in communicating openly about their sexual problems, compared to women expressing their problems through gynecological symptoms. That is why men are more likely to have the coincidence by touch.

Most of the callers were between 21 and 30 years old. And many times the callers insisted on talking to a specific counselor of their choice.

During this experimental period, the touch service received an average of 8 to 20 calls a day, with about 15,000 calls. Most people wanted information about genital warts and AIDS. The rest had to learn about big and small questions about sexual happiness and sexual perversions.

A few women also called to find out about the abortion. A few women and men also called for information on various family planning tools to dispel misconceptions and illusions about AIDS and HIV and to get more information about the disease.

Information and treatment was also available on issues such as legal rights, treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, but the number of users of this information was small. Many people also needed divorce advice in a married relationship. The family service organization has also considered covering the matter under its telephone service.

Touch service had to be temporarily suspended for a short period of time on March 19 due to lack of funds.

Sadly, the family service organization needs the backing of a donor or financier to carry out the touch service on time and this search is likely to take time which is delaying the resumption of a service like touch. However, Parivar Seva Sanstha, in collaboration with a government agency, is planning to launch the service in other major cities of India as well.

The family service organization aspires to start this service in small towns and villages as soon as the Sparsh project is successfully implemented in big cities and a way out of financial difficulties is found.

This is our Indian society where people are annoyed with the talk of sexuality, where open dialogue about people's problems is impossible and there are a large number of people who are disgusted and opposed to sex education. There, the Sparsh project is like a sweet weed in the desert for Indians who are confused and troubled. The solution to problems that can't be told to anyone and can't even be signed will now be just a phone call away. For such individuals, touch will be like an nectar.

- Neepa