People experiencing psychological problems in the country will now have professional help at their fingertips, with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) launching a new helpline, Initiating Concern for All (iCall).

An initiative of the Centre for Human Ecology (CHE), iCall is a psychosocial and legal helpline that will be manned by trained counselling psychologists.

Sujata Sriram, chairperson of the CHE, said, “Other helplines have volunteers but our counsellors are have undergone professional training to deal with an array of issues.”

These counsellors will deal with psychosocial issues like relationships, parenting, depression, sexuality, infertility, exam stress and career options. The legal branch has been demarcated to deal with issues like violence, property and marriage.

Sriram added that they have developed a wide referral network for queries that cannot be answered immediately. Calls will be answered in Hindi, Marathi, English, Tamil and Gujarati.

Open from 11am to 10pm, iCall aims to have 24–hour operations in a year. The service is not free at present, but one can call 25563291 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with their problems.

TISS has put up posters and circulated brochures and calling cards to spread awareness about the initiative.