SEREMBAN, July 11 — The Negri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council (MAINS), through its Zakat Department’s Counselling Division, received a total of 1,484 calls from the public in the state requesting psychosocial support, from early January to June this year.

Its Counselling Division’s chief counsellor, Norazman Amat, said that counselling services were provided free of charge to people in the state, regardless of religion and race, to help reduce depression among individuals.

He explained that the online counselling sessions were held to listen to problems faced by individuals or ‘clients’ who suffer from emotional distress, and to work together to find the best solution to address the problems.

"However, it is a little different from psychospiritual (support), where some clients lose faith (in god and religion), especially during this pandemic. Our job is to give them an understanding of God’s will,” he told Bernama here today.

He explained that currently the counselling session is conducted online, through phone calls, Zoom, Google Meet and WhatsApp applications.

He said that he also received calls from positive Covid-19 patients who needed psychosocial and psychospiritual support to restore their spirits, so that they would not give up easily or act outside of rational thinking.

He added that for Muslims, his division would help the group to get closer to Allah by praying and reciting ‘zikir’ (remembrance of Allah) to rebuild their self-confidence, and those who required financial assistance would be referred to the Zakat Department. — Bernama