With the aim to inculcate among students the consciousness of mental health and healthy living, the Department of Arts and Social Science of Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) of Kampar Campus successfully organised a campaign titled “Positivity: A New Voice Campaign” at Kampar Campus from 15 to 17 October 2018.
Held in conjunction with the World Mental Health Day 2018, the campaign aimed at encouraging young students to be effective in thinking and develop a positive attitude and thinking which can truly change the entire life of someone. The campaign also aimed to encourage young students and participants to get involved in constructive and positive activities while achieving their goals and their dreams towards success.
The project coordinator-cum-lecturer P. Bhargkavi enthused, “Themed ‘Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World’, this year’s World Mental Health Day 2018 brings attention to the issues that youth and young adults are facing in the world today. As part of UTAR community, I find the theme to be very much relevant to our higher learning institution where we, the lecturers deal with young students every day and we feel it is a good exposure for students to learn about mental health and healthy living in order to grow up healthy, happy and resilient.”
She added, “We believe increased knowledge and understanding among the students build ability and capacity to maintain wellbeing. For example, factors such as the awareness of signs of stress, the knowledge of coping strategies and a belief in the ability to cope will be able to decrease the symptoms of mental disorders among university students. Apart from that, the campaign also provides an opportunity for UTAR students to apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom. The students will be able to demonstrate their ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practical skills. Everyone experiences down times in life. The ability to cope with negative experiences varies greatly from one person to another and, in large part, determines whether people enjoy their lives. If they are able to cope, it would uplift and show positive effects in different areas of life.”
With the objective to create awareness on various issues of mental health, the campaign was divided into four major divisions, namely exhibition on mental health, talk on healthy mind and healthy life, speaker’s corner and workshop. All the four divisions served different purposes such as to raise awareness on mental health issues and to enlighten the participants on the common types of mental illness.
Exhibition corner
Front row, sixth from left: Jennifer, Dr Alia and Pakialetchumy with the participants
Talk and activities in progress
Dr Alia (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Jennifer
One of the highlights of the campaign was the talk titled “Healthy Mind and Healthy Life” delivered by the Counselor from Hospital Seri Manjung A. Jennifer. The two-hour talk served as a call to action to individuals to know more about mental health, mental illness and tips on how to take care of mental health. She stressed, “The integration of high-quality health and mental health care leads to better health outcomes for people with mental illness.”
The talk was attended by more than 40 school students and teachers from various schools, namely SMK Dato’ Bendahara CM Yusuf, SMJK Pei Yuan, SMK Sentosa and SMK Seri Kampar as well as more than 50 UTAR students and staff. Also present at the talk were the Guest of Honour-cum-Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) Dr Alia Azalea, CFS Department of Arts and Social Science (Kampar Campus) Head A. Pakialetchumy and CFS lecturers.
Tay delivering his knowledge on mindfulness technique
Apart from the talk, the students also benefited greatly from an entertaining and enlightening workshop, titled “PLAY Attention!”. The hands-on workshop, which focused on mindfulness technique, helped the students to discover how they can train their brain to focus in the present moment. The workshop was delivered by UTAR FAS lecturer, Tay Kok Wai. It was attended by more than 50 UTAR students.
The campaign also provided a platform for young students to express and speak. Through the activity “Speaker's Corner” students were able to share their knowledge and understanding about mental health and its importance to other students.
Attended by more than 150 participants, the campaign was a success.
Some speakers sharing their knowledge of mental health during the Speaker’s Corner activity
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