In an effort to combat depression and promote mental health awareness among students, the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) Counselling Guidance Unit organised Stress-free Campaign 2019 at Sungai Long Campus from 22 October 2019 to 23 October 2019.

The theme of the campaign was “Enjoy your life, enjoy your sight”. It featured exhibitions, talks, games and stress relief activities which reminded participants of the little things in life that could make them happy and brighten their day. ‘Life Journey café’ was also set up for the participants to share their view on life and death while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee and some treats.

Invited to deliver talks were Author of “Taking Charge of My Life” Neelambika Kanapathi Pillai and UTAR counsellor Navamani Nagappon. In her talk, Neelambika shared her personal story about abusive marriage from her ex-partner. Considering herself as a survivor of domestic violence, she highlighted the rights of a wife to be treated as an equal partner in marriage and hoped to bring more awareness to the issue of domestic violence.

“I am grateful to be able to share my story to raise awareness of domestic violence in the hope of eliminating this social issue, starting from the younger generation. Time is a great healer. I keep reminding myself to be patient and never give up,” she shared.

Writing the book ‘Taking Charge of My Life’ was a huge part of her healing process. Although writing about her experience brings up dark memories, she was determined to keep at it and eventually emerged stronger. “In my writing process, I understood myself better and managed to handle my emotion,” she told. She also advised, “No one is free more problems. Accept yourself for who you are. You have to avoid comparing yourself with others. Do not expect others or depend on others to make yourself feel good.”

On the other hand, Navamani delivered her talk titled “Don’t suffer in silence” with the aims to raise awareness among students about sexual abuse which brings negative impact to their lives and to their loved ones. “Both men and women can be sexually assaulted. A perpetrator can be any gender, and of any sexual orientation. The majority of sexual assault is truthfully reported. In fact, a lot of victims do not report sexual assault for the fear of not being believed. Unfortunately, these are the things that occur in our surrounding environment, especially in ASEAN countries,” she said.

She explained that sexual assault is any form of sexual activity forced on someone else without that person’s consent and can cause physical harm, where force can be physical or through the use of threats, bullying, manipulation, alcohol, drugs or harassment. She said, “Most criminals of sexual assault are actually known by the victim. Unwanted sexual activity in any relationship is an assault.” She also provided an overall idea of sexual exploitation and sexual harassment, as well as the guidelines to prevent these nerve-wracking issues from happening.