Maitreyi is a voluntary organisation that values human life.

Maitreyi’s only concern is to help people who feel sad & suicidal. People who think about suicide are sometimes not able to decide whether to live or not.

Most often, suicidal thoughts and acts are a cry for help.

A person who feels suicidal or attempts suicide wishes to tell others that she or he is feeling sad & depressed and that she or he feels their life is not worth living. Maitreyi exists to emotionally support and understand such people who are facing this crisis. Maitreyi is a place where one can talk freely and share one’s problems. This timely support helps prevent suicide.

People who feel that there is no one to talk to, no one to understand them and no one to share their problems, will find in Maitreyi, someone who will listen to them with warmth, understanding and attention, someone who can appreciate their problems and anxieties. Maitreyi volunteers listen with empathy and accept people for what they are.

This process is called Befriending.

Maitreyi . . .

• Values human life and feelings
• Is voluntary
• Is secular
• Is non-political
• Is non-profit oriented
• Offers services through telephone, mail or a personal interface
• Functions from 2 pm to 8 pm on ALL days
• Is run by committed volunteers
• Is affiliated to Befrienders Worldwide and Befrienders India and has access to a worldwide network of Befriending centres.

Principles of Maitreyi

• The primary aim of the center is to be available from 2 pm to 8 pm on all days   to   offer emotional support to those passing through personal crises and in imminent, danger of taking their own lives.
• The volunteers serving the center also seek to alleviate human misery, loneliness, despair and depression by listening to and befriending persons who feel that they have no one else to turn to, who would understand and accept them.
• A caller does not lose the freedom to make his own decision and is free to break contact at any time.
• Every thing any caller reveals in the organization will be confidential within the organization unless permission is given by the caller for all or part of such information to be communicated to some one outside the organization.
• In offering emotional support to callers, volunteers will be guided and actively supported by other experienced volunteers. Professional help is often sought in helping train the volunteers.
• In appropriate cases the callers will also be invited to consider seeking professional help in such fields as medicine and social work and material help from other agencies.

• Volunteers do not impose their own convictions or influence callers with regard politics, philosophy or religion.