Abstract
Mental health telephone helplines serve as vital access points for individuals experiencing psychological distress, offering immediate, anonymous support from crisis interventionists and resource specialists. While widely accessed globally, limited research exists on the demographic characteristics and help-seeking behaviors of helpline users, particularly outside the United States and within racially marginalized or culturally specific communities. This study begins to address that gap through a secondary content analysis of caller data collected between 2018 and 2023 by Sikh Your Mind, a UK-based mental health nonprofit serving Punjabi Sikh populations. Findings suggest that the primary difficulty identified by the 538 calls was due to mood dysregulation (33.8%) and relationship difficulties (23.6%). Further findings in relation to caller demographics and outcomes of helpline engagement are detailed alongside limitations and future research.
Keywords
Punjabi, Sikh, Cultural, Helpline, Community mental health, Help seeking behavior, South Asian