Awareness of mental health continues to be emphasised in the Inter-Youth Summit 2021 that was jointly organised by the International Medical University (IMU), Taylor’s University and INTI International University. Five separate sessions were conducted on 6, 13, 20 and 27 November 2021 via Zoom.

Themed ‘Keep Hope Alive’, the summit aimed to provide a platform for university students in Malaysia to discover their potential, and create hope and purpose in life through the sharing from experienced counsellors and professionals. It also served as a platform to shed positive light on the youths by offering solutions to them on overcoming uncertainties and developing better-coping strategies, such as managing friendships and relationships, collaborative problem-solving, decision-making, identifying and managing emotions in challenging times.

The first session was conducted by Chong Chee Wai, a licensed and registered counsellor, serving in UTAR Counselling & Guidance Unit. He spoke on “Unlocking the Power of Self-kindness”. His talk focused on cultivating self-kindness and self-compassion in daily life. He explained that the practice of self-kindness can help one to find strength during challenging times in life. He also elaborated on the elements of self-compassion, the types of self-compassions and the benefits of self-compassion practice on promoting personal well-being and mental health. He also explained the important link between awareness and self-compassion and ways to minimise self-criticism through self-compassion.

The second session on “Laughter Yoga: Journey to Wonderland! HoHoHaHa” conducted by licensed and registered counsellor from Counselling & Guidance Unit Gursheena Kaur saw participants enjoying some good laughs and relaxing moments as they were enlightened on laughter yoga. She explained that laughter yoga is a form of mental fitness that provides unique social health wellness experience. She advised participants to practise laughter yoga for 15 minutes a day to enhance one’s emotional, mental and physical wellness.

Meanwhile, Tan Keat Hoon, a licensed and registered counsellor from IMU, advised participants on “Tools to Develop Good Habits”. Her talk aimed to convey the benefits of atomic changes on one’s daily routine that can yield unprecedented results in the long run. She also taught participants on ways to identify their habits and set up a system to execute one’s action plan.

The final two sessions focused on “Staying Connected with Joy” and “Lessons of Coping from Pop Cultures” which were conducted by Head of Centre for Counselling Services of Taylor’s University Ng Shan Na and INTI Student Counsellor Yap Wei Li respectively.

Ng explained, “Social connection is a relationship that everyone yearns to own. We’re living in a relational world where there’ll always be a powerful support when we’re connected together, just like how a stick of fire match creates a campfire collectively.” She then further explained the ways to stay connected in the new era and the positive impacts of social connectedness towards positive mental wellness in one’s personal life and the community.

Yap, on the other hand, explained that culture exists within every individual, and some are more encouraged by societies, while some are discouraged with the idea that it harms the mind. He mentioned that all cultures are encouraged by using the ideas stemming from the perceptions of Gestalt theory of Figure-Ground. He then shared his successful experience in training his perceptiveness from understanding the whole picture (ground) and the significant information (figure) as he explored the different world pop culture narratives and their relatable applications in life.