KOROR (Palau Horizon) — The Ministry of Health will launch a 24-hour, seven days a week crisis hotline next month.
Public Health Director Caleb Otto said that through the joint efforts of the bureau, Palau Community College and the Committee on Population and Children, the hotline will soon be set up.
The hotline currently needs volunteer telephone specialists who will undergo a 10-week training in answering the phone and making referrals such as counseling for family violence or abusive environment.
Otto said as early as 1999, workshops were held to train volunteers as telephone specialists for the crisis hotline.
Otto said 1999 statistics showed that a resident of Palau is more likely to die of suicide than homicide.
A study showed that Palau followed Chuuk with the most number of suicide incidents.
Statistics also showed that the majority of suicide victims were young people and that an increasing number of young people were attempting to commit suicide.
During a workshop, high school students in Palau voiced out the need for a hotline where they can seek assistance “for their emotional and psychological needs without being labeled or their identification revealed.”
