Establish local hotlines
After taking my medication and dozing off for a while, I woke up in the middle of the night completely unable to fall back asleep. I called the 1995 hotline run by Taiwan Lifeline International, but the line was busy. Following the hotline’s prerecorded instructions, I dialed the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s 1925 hotline and was lucky enough to chat with a gentleman for quite a while. In the end, he politely reminded me that I need to rest to properly recover from a day of work, so I had no choice but to hang up.
I proceeded to call the 1999 hotline to provide feedback, but I was told that neither of my prior telephone calls fall under Taipei’s jurisdiction and that this was not a matter handled by the 1999 hotline service. Upon being asked if there is anything else I need help with, I explained that I just wanted to talk to someone. The man on the telephone kindly transferred me to a psychological counseling service in Taipei, but no one picked up — I guess it was not a 24-hour service. I thought of the 1980 hotline run by the Teacher Chang Foundation, but that one also has predetermined service hours, so, alas, my desire to chat went unfulfilled.
There is an increasing trend of people experiencing insomnia and mental health issues, and I question whether the resources provided by government agencies are sufficient to address these problems. Of course, some people might suggest sharing your woes with loved ones to relieve stress, or seeing a psychological counselor or psychiatrist, but when it is the middle of the night, a problem arises.
From my understanding, only emergency psychiatric services have 24-hour services — there is generally nothing available for people who just need someone to chat with to cope with insomnia or just pass the time until daylight. When hotlines are busy, there is nothing you can do.
The inability to receive immediate relief for psychological issues often leads to incidents such as suicide, which are unfortunately becoming increasingly common.
This is more than just a fleeting thought of mine — the inability of the relevant resources to provide immediate assistance also contributes to these tragedies.
While I am just one person, I still hope that the government would take my concerns to heart and, within reasonable budget constraints, consider working with local governments to establish 24-hour counseling hotlines. This would help to more evenly distribute us “clients,” thereby alleviating the pressure on the Ministry of Health and Welfare and other emergency hotlines, which are often busy.
If those with an urgent need are able to receive proper assistance, they might be able to alter their state of mind. We cannot allow more people to miss out on these services due to insufficient resources — that would only lead to more regrets.
Anon
Taipei
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