Jamshedpur, March 9: With examination season on, more and more cases of attempted suicides are being reported at Jeevan, a suicide prevention centre in the steel city.

Understanding the need to utilise services of more trained experts to deal with the stressed, young minds, the centre has decided to recruit more counsellors.

To provide training to the newly-recruited counsellors, experts from Lifeline Foundation, a Calcutta-based centre, have been roped in. Volunteers would be trained through a three-day workshop to be held from March 14.

“We need the right set of people with the right attitude to become a counsellor. It has to be someone who listens to individuals closely,” conceded Mahavir Ram, Jeevan’s director. From learning to listen, to offering them a suitable solution to problems, counsellors would be taught ways of dealing with stress and expectations.

As many as 22 volunteers have applied, out of which 15 have been chosen for an interview with experts of Lifeline Foundation. Currently, 13 people have been shortlisted.

“The foremost criterion for a counsellor is to know how to control emotions. Emotional people find it difficult to deal with tricky situations, as they themselves get involved with a case,” added Ram.

He added that as counsellors, volunteers have to pin down negative emotions in a person, and as a counsellor his or her job is to turn that negative emotion into a positive response.

“We want a set of dedicated listeners, not advice givers, because our patients call or visit us because they don’t or can’t find anyone to talk to,” said Ram.