Caritas Macau’s long-awaited English-language suicide prevention hotline is finally to get off the ground next month, Secretary-General Paul Pun Chi Meng said on Sunday.
Pun spoke to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Iao Hon Park promoting the Roman-Catholic charity’s food bank. He said that Caritas Macau was currently testing the system, adding that more information on the hotline will be announced at a later date, such as its number.
“Right now, we have four volunteers who can speak English… but we also managed to find part-time staff,” said Pun. “We planned to launch it a year and a half ago. Now this is the moment that we officially tell this to the public.”
Pun said the aim was to cater to Macau’s growing non-Chinese speaking population. He said he expected mostly non-local workers from South and South East Asia to use the service. The community leader also said the hotline volunteers have backgrounds in social work, psychology and counseling, adding that the hotline will be run initially as a half-day service. Pun said Caritas may extend it to a round-the-clock service in the future. (macaunews/macaupost)
