The Tele MANAS helpline, a toll-free 24/7 mental health assistance programme launched by the Government of India across the country, has chalked out a programme to co-ordinate with the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) in different districts of Karnataka to “close the mental health accessibility gap”.Speaking to The Hindu ahead of a scheduled visit to Mysuru by a team of Tele MANAS on July 25, senior resident for the Apex Co-ordinating Centre for the programme at NIMHANS in Bengaluru, Gajanan G. Sabhahit noted that callers from remote parts of the State seeking mental health assistance will be linked to the DMHP team members so that they do not have to travel long distances to avail mental health care.When the required mental health care cannot be provided through audio or video consultation, the calls are re-diverted through a rapid referral portal, where a Tele MANAS counseller will provide the details to the DHMP team comprising a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, community health professional, and Asha workers among others, to help the caller.Meanwhile, project manager for Tele MANAS, e-Health Research Centre, IIIT, Bengaluru, Archana Kartik, described Tele MANAS as the digital arm of DMHP. It is meant to serve as a “first aid” for people in distress, who are not able to avail mental health assistance physically, she said.Ever since the Tele MANAS helpline was launched in October 2022, Karnataka had accounted for 1.3 lakh calls out of the total 24 lakh calls received so far. In Karnataka, Tele MANAS units are functioning out of Bengaluru and Dharwad, where 20 counsellers in each centre, totalling 40, attend to calls round the clock in shifts. The counsellers are provided special training to handle the calls received from persons with distress.“About 500 calls are attended to every day at both the centres. Audio calls are converted into video calls if necessary,” said Ms. Archana.The Tele MANAS helpline has now seen a surge in calls across the country, receiving anywhere between 3,500 to 5,000 calls per day in 20 different languages from people facing various mental health issues.While calls from 18-year-olds has increased, most of the phone calls are received are from people between the ages of 18 and 45, with complaints ranging from sleeplessness, not getting married, financial difficulties, and exam stress, she said.A team of Tele MANAS will be in Mysuru on Friday as part of their Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities.While NIMHANS is running this helpline and free consultation is being provided for various mental health issues, the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-B) is providing technical support to this helpline.The Tele MANAS helpline is available on 14416.Published - July 23, 2025 08:27 pm IST