If you didn’t know, May is celebrated as Mental Health Awareness Month in countries worldwide to shine the spotlight on the importance of mental health. Last week, The International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) was a part of this global celebration as we had our very own Mental Health Awareness Week! This event was brought into fruition through the committed planning and dedication of two of our Grade 11 students.
Natalie J. (Class of 2022) and Mehr M. ( Class of 22) are IB Psychology students who, upon discussion with their psychology teacher-cum-CAS advisor, decided to have a week dedicated to the importance and awareness of mental health. Their vision was to keep students engaged by filling the week with fun and enlightening activities related to mental health. Each activity was meticulously planned to be interconnected with the rest, functioning as a stepping stone to the next activity. Below were some of the activities planned for the week:
- Mind Matters Club Talk (Tuesday, May 4)
The Mind Matters Club is an external club originally formed at the International Medical University (IMU) that aims to educate students, especially in national schools, in learning and acknowledging the importance of mental health in Malaysia. The guest speakers invited for the talk were Professor Philip George from the Department of Psychiatry at IMU who is also an addiction specialist at The Mind Faculty, and Ms. Sharrada Segeran, co-founder of The Mind Matters Club. They shared their thoughts on the importance of raising awareness about mental health, how social media can affect one’s mental health, as well as ways to seek help and support. - Advisory Activities (Wednesday, May 5)
A mental health advisory session was held for the Grade 11 students. The session consisted of slides containing videos and discussion questions relating to mental health topics such as mental health stigmas, depression, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). - After School Pilates Session (Thursday, May 6)
A virtual pilates session was held via Zoom for interested students to participate after school. Pilates is a type of exercise that involves breathing, which can bring one into a mindful state. It was selected to be part of the Mental Health Awareness Week activities as it is something new and different that students could try out. - Burning Labels Activity (Friday, May 7)
For this activity, the idea was to start a fire in a bin during lunchtime where students would write out any insecurities, stress factors, or mental health labels they feel on a piece of paper, and then throw it into the fire as a way of freeing themselves from the insecurities or labels in their lives. This activity was unfortunately postponed due to MCO 3.0!
On mental health awareness in Malaysia, students Natalie and Mehr shared some of their thoughts on why events and projects like Mental Health Awareness Week were necessary:
“We are lucky to have a healthy school environment that is open to conversations about mental health. However, I noticed that living in a more ‘Asian’ culture means that people tend to be slightly more conservative, and conversations about mental health are still considered taboo. Thus, we hope to normalize mental health conversations and help-seeking in Malaysian society,” Mehr shared.
Natalie then added, “It is important to start now, as many people would usually reach their breaking point before they realise they need help. Having activities like these and normalizing taboo topics in High School can start conversations and help them feel comfortable speaking up and seeking help before it is too late.”
They also acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 on the community’s mental health, especially for students in High School.
Mehr summed up some of the struggles and experiences that students are going through as they continue their studies through this pandemic, “As we have in our last few years of High School, COVID-19 has affected our learning journey, especially with the changing of plans and exams due to the MCO. There’s difficulties when learning virtually, and sometimes we struggle in keeping our motivations up, as expected. And of course, just like with the rest of the world, we all wish we could go out and about freely and enjoy ourselves.”
Despite these struggles, Natalie says that, “Although this pandemic is not a desirable season, it is still a very crucial time to raise awareness about mental health.”
Moving forward, they hope that this project could be continued in the future as an annual event so there can be a PAWsitive footprint left on the ISKL community in terms of mental health awareness and breaking the mental health stigma.
