Abu Dhabi Residents to Now Get Free Counselling Services for Mental Health Problems

The "You are not alone" campaign, which focuses on mental health and encourages people to reach out and get psychological treatment through the Estijaba helpline, has been launched by Abu Dhabi entities. 

Through a partnership between Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the Department of Community Development (DCD), and Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, the Estijaba helpline 8001717, which has been providing psychological support services over the phone through SEHA's staff members, will be further improved (ADPHC). 

The helpline responds to calls for psychological distress, including local crises. Six days a week, from Sunday through Friday, between 8 am and 6 pm, a free service is offered. 

The Estijaba helpline began offering psychological support services earlier in 2021 as an addition to the services already offered in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic response. 

The goal is to offer the community confidential, anonymous consultations that address their mental health concerns in a secure and convenient environment. All community callers requesting support are given psychological therapies by hotline counsellors. 

Through the call, SEHA seeks to offer a secure, accepting, anonymous, and sympathetic atmosphere. The programme is a telephone-based community resource that can be used to handle psychological issues, mental health emergencies, and psychiatric crises. 

The services provided range from telephone counselling to referrals to the emergency room and outpatient psychiatric clinics within the SEHA network, as well as facilitating psychiatric hospitalizations if necessary. 

Rapid intervention through the hotline is anticipated to improve the overall quality of care, decrease the length of stay in hospitals and emergency room waiting rooms, and boost timely access to mental health services. 

Saeed Jaber Al Kuwaiti, Group Chief Executive Officer at SEHA, said, "To bridge the current gap in mental health services, we are collaborating with DCD and ADPHC to deliver high-quality psychological support via a telephone helpline. It is not only a way to access instant counselling in times of psychological distress but also a channel to navigate the health services to access SEHA's highly specialised outpatient psychiatric services and a resource for swift crisis intervention. For those suffering in silence, we encourage you to reach out – choose support, choose to call!"

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