Organisations such as the Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (Miasa) and Befrienders KL shoulder a significant portion of frontline mental health crisis care through their dedicated helplines.

However, these groups often rely heavily on volunteers and operate on limited budgets, which, in turn, restrict their operating hours, as well as limit the capacity to train volunteers, access to technology upgrades and outreach.

Alia Ali, founder of local support group Awareness Against Suicide Malaysia (Awas), said these helplines play a vital role within the national mental health ecosystem, but cautioned that they risk doing more harm than good if not properly managed.

Netizens on social media platforms, such as X and Reddit, have reported that it often takes multiple attempts before they are connected, if at all, to crisis helplines.

They also claimed long wait times and disengaged responses from volunteers made it feel “pointless” even to try and seek help, with some claiming to have been left even more distressed following a call.

“A lot of people complain that they don’t get a response when they reach out to these crisis helplines. Someone once even told me that they were solicited for money when they called,” Alia said.

“I know it’s not fair to generalise, but these are things that need to be looked into. Callers are vulnerable, and if things don’t go smoothly for them when they reach out, it can be very distressing, and could lead to much worse things.”

Alia said that Awas receives an annual grant from the health ministry and certain other organisations, although she declined to disclose the amount.

Separately, Befrienders KL publicity director Joan Chen stressed the need for sustained government backing in the form of funding, infrastructure and policy support to enable the organisation to broaden its scope of services, strengthen volunteer training and boost accessibility.

She said one of Befrienders KL’s biggest challenges was ensuring that it had enough trained volunteers to meet the large number of calls its helpline receives.

Chen said Befrienders received a total of 30,607 calls in 2024, an average of about 84 calls a day.

She said manpower shortages often resulted in new callers being unable to reach the system, particularly when all lines were engaged.

Maintaining a large, diverse and well-trained volunteer base requires continuous effort and resources, she added.

According to Chen, this presented a challenge, given that the organisation’s financial capacity was directly linked to the success of its fundraising campaigns and the availability of grants.

“Our funding model is entirely dependent on the generosity of individuals, organisations and community partners who believe in our mission,” she said.

“Sustaining our operations can be challenging, which is why continued community and institutional support is so important to us.”

Miasa, which operates a crisis helpline that receives 1,800 calls each month, urged policymakers to strengthen existing mental health support groups by addressing issues of understaffing and the lack of institutional backing.

Its founder Anita Abu Bakar said all local helplines tend to lack staff support beyond midnight with volunteers having to work around their existing personal commitments. She noted that even Talian HEAL, the health ministry’s official helpline, only operated from 8am to midnight.

Anita explained that volunteers tend to commit to one shift a week after receiving training in crisis management and trauma-informed care.

She said helpline organisations do not need the government to “reinvent the wheel”, but rather to work with them in strengthening their services.

“Of course, we try our best to run our helpline 24/7, but at the end of the day, these people are volunteers. Most of them are students or have full-time jobs.

“So if it’s difficult to find volunteers at night, especially when there are a high number of callers, why don’t we make it a paid job?

“It would be great if the government could help fund these initiatives. We know how to do the job, we just don’t have the money.”