jan/Feb, 2020 | The Health
Highlight
17
Speaking out
on mental health
International Mental Health Recovery Conference 2019 saw delegates
from around the worrl opening up and discussing their experience in
mental health
O
“The most challenging part is to inform the
general public where to seek help. The ministry
of health provides a channel for mental health
treatment, healing and rehabilitation centres
and anything in between.”
The Ministry of Health has recently collabo-
rated with Teeb TV to help create the ‘Malaysia
Mental Health Film Festival’. “With this, we
hope to eradicate the stigma and instead, to
educate the public on the importance of focus-
ing on the detection of mental illness signs in
the community.”
When a person suffers from certain mental
illnesses, they do not go straight to the profes-
sionals. Recent findings say that they seek the
comfort of their friends and families before
seeking professional help. They might seek
help from the university clinics, or from the
society before they are referred to the profes-
sionals,” she says. “We need them to be able
to provide basic needs by using their helping
skills and the knowledge for them to refer the
patients to the professionals.” — The Health
"At work, you
might feel
stressed out
when you
are unable to
achieve the
expectation
set by your boss or your
company." - Dr Norashikin
help us hoist the mental health conditions of
the worker,” she clarifies.
“Secondly, if they work their employees to
the bone, the return must be of equal values.
Be it in monetary form, or replacement leaves
or any other sort of compensations. This in
turn will lead to an increase in quality and
attitude of the workers.”
She also tells that employers must provide
enough apparatus to help the employees
complete their tasks. Basic things are like tele-
phones, a monitor, a workspace and a lunch
room. The absence of these apparatus can lead
to a plunge in productivity and quality.
All in all, everybody has their own sources
of stress and ways to manage them. This
includes time management, employee man-
agement and resource management. — The
Health
n Dec 7, Mental Illness Aware-
ness & Support Association
(MIASA) organised its first
International Mental Health
Recovery Conference (IMHRC
2019) for two days.
The theme of IMHRC 2019 was ‘Experts
by Experience.’ ‘Experts by Experience’ is a
terminology that was coined in Finland and
popularised in the UK within the past two
decades. They are expert consultants who use
their wealth of lived experience to improve
mental health for everyone through their
project, involvement, engagement, education
and training work.
The main objective of IMHRC 2019 was
to examine the lived experiences of expert
peers locally and internationally in order to
create awareness to the public on the strategic
value of mental health advocacy work that is
informed by lived experience.
The end goal was to initiate a more col-
laborative practice by including those with
lived experience in the design and delivery of
mental health services, working side-by-side
with mental healthcare professionals.
“We at MIASA, we serve as a social worker.
We help our peers however they need within
our capacity and limitations. This would range
from making appointments with doctors,
helping them in crisis, accompanying them
at the hospital, helping them financially
and especially talking to their families to
understand their struggle and illness. That is
what MIASA is. We are a peer learning focused
group as this is the strength of peers that I
would like to showcase for this entire confer-
ence,” shared Anita Abu Bakar, Founder and
President of MIASA.
She also addressed some of Malaysia’s
structural problems in addressing mental
health issues in her talk, ‘Malaysia’s Collab-
orative Practise: Gaps, Opportunities and the
Way Forward.’
“We are looking at 29.2 per cent of Malay-
sians age 16 and above have a certain mental
health condition. This figure translates to 4.2
million people in Malaysia. Statistics are very
important for all of us to understand how
Anita says one of
the main concerns
in regards to
mental health in
Malaysia is the lack
of understanding
among the public as
well as healthcare
professionals.
Bhargavi Davar,
President of TCI –
Asia Pacific (India)
speaks about the
importance of
zero coercion in
managing patients
with mental
illnesses.
crucial mental health issues are and how it
can, if you do not take care of your mental
health – it can lead to mental illness.”
One of the main supporters of the
conference was TCI – Asia (Transform-
ing communities for Inclusion of
persons with psychosocial disabilities, Asia,
an international organisation focussing on
the monitoring and implementation of all
human rights for persons with mental health
problems and psychosocial disabilities.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly
Ahmad also sent in a video congratulating
MIASA on the international conference and
their efforts in addressing mental health.
The attendees of IMHRC 2019 consisted
of mental healthcare professionals, mental
health advocates, NGOs, students and health-
care/wellness service and product providers.
— The Health
One of the talks during IMHRC 2019, conveying the problems in Malaysia in recognising mental health
issues.