Thirty per cent of the population face mental health issues

PETALING JAYA (Herald Malaysia): World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10th October annually. It is a day dedicated towards raising public awareness by educating and advocating mental health issues worldwide.

The Archdiocesan Mental Health Ministry (AMHM), in collaboration with the Church of St Ignatius, organised a one day Archdiocesan Mental Health Day 2017 on October 14 at the Church of St Ignatius. The theme was Pain is Real, But So is Hope. A series of talks and workshops was planned to benefit people from different age groups.

In the welcome address, the Ecclesiastical Assistant of the AMHM, Fr Philip Chua, explained that everyone cannot escape suffering from pain, but God loves us and in mercy comes to meet us.

Archbishop Julian Leow was glad to see such a good response for this event. People have put aside the judgement, fear and stigma to come forward and focus on mental health. He also said that approximately 30 per cent of people in the world (equivalent to about 3.5 billion) are currently facing mental health issues. He quoted Psalm 25:16-17, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.”

Archbishop Leow expressed his hope that everyone would continue to show compassion and care towards family members or friends who suffer from mental health issues.

There were 602 participants (Catholics and those from other religious backgrounds) at the event. Based on their responses, there is evidence that the public are becoming more aware about mental health. The Catholic participants from the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur came from 27 parishes/religious communities, including parishioners from Ipoh.

The organising committee also collaborated with the Archdiocesan Social Communication Ministry by including interaction via Webinar. Those who did not get a chance to join the event were able to watch the live broadcast through http://Tv.archkl.org in real time.

Participants were divided into three different age groups: children (ages 5-12), youths (ages 13-24), and adults (ages 25 and above) and in four language groups (English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil).

The speakers came from a diverse range of specialities: psychiatry, child psychology, thanatology, corporate coaching, marriage and family, child abuse, etc.

For the children’s group, activities included Body Safety, Personal Boundaries, and Saying No!, mindfulness and assertiveness and therapeutic play. For the youth, the topics were on Family of Origin and Knowing Myself Better, Say NO to Internet Addiction, etc. The focus for the adult group included communication skills, suicide prevention, body, mind and spiritual wellness, etc. There was positive feedback from all the participants who felt that they had gained from all the workshops.

The Archdiocesan Mental Health Day 2017 also featured two plenary speakers. They were Associate Professor Dr Anasuya Jegathesan, Academic Head of Masters in Counselling Programme HELP University Malaysia and Ms. Siew Ju Li, psychologist at Fungates Sdn. Bhd.

Associate Professor Dr Anasuya Jegathesan spoke on How to Deal with Loss and Grief in Everyday Life. “Grief is one of those things in mental health that everybody experiences,” she said.

In the afternoon, Ms Siew Ju Li spoke on Being Good Enough: Building Emotional Resilience. She emphasised that “the first step to building emotional resilience is to be aware of our own feelings when we are facing fear, rejection, hurt, or any kind of painful event.”

A dinner was held on October 20 with Archbishop Julian Leow to appreciate the efforts of the 111 volunteers who helped make the Archdiocesan Mental Health Day a success.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online