Counselling centres to be setup for cops in Ker to beat stress

The Kerala police has decided to open counselling centres at all district police headquarters in the state to combat stress among police officers.

State police chief Loknath Behara directed district police chiefs to open the centres on the lines of the one which is already operational at Thiruvananthapuram.

Help and Assistance To combat Stress (HATS) among police officers, a project initiated to reduce mental stress, has been active in Thiruvananthapuram for the last two years, a release issued by the police department said.

"Within last two years around 1,800 people made use of the facility. It includes policemen and their families," the release said.

The centres will have an experienced psychologist and a counsellor. The programme will include stress relaxation counselling, progressive muscle relaxation therapy,neuropsychological testing, memory test, IQ test, among other morale boosting sessions.

The increasing number of suicides among police personnel in the state has likely prompted the police department to open more counselling centres across the state.

The Kerala Police Association had recently met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the Home Minister, on the rising number of suicide cases among policemen.

This year alone 11 policemen committed suicide in the state owing to various problems including stress and family issues.

Recently, a civil police officer Kumar, attached to an Armed Reserve Camp at Palakkad committed suicide and his wife had alleged that he took the extreme step due to pressure and harassment from the department.