Six-week summit for nourishing mental wellness and resilience

The ongoing six-week “Resilience and Well-being Summit 2022”, organised by the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) of Kampar Campus, started on 20 February 2022. It gathers more than 20 international and local professionals with backgrounds ranging from mental health specialists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, psychologists, counsellors, and mind-training practitioners to share their insights and latest research findings on mental well-being and resilience.

The inaugural summit is co-hosted with Bodhi Counselling Centre and Journey Within, and held in partnership with Alliance ELIANT, Kaohsiung Medical University Positive Psychology Center, Taiwan Mindfulness Association, Taiwan Association for Care and Counselling for Loss, Malaysia Xiao En Group Counselling & Support, Life Line Association Malaysia, Malaysia Mindfulness Association, Than Hsiang Mitra Welfare Association Penang, Inner Journey Academy, and  ROCO Film.

Themed Nourishing Mental Well-being and Strengthening Resilience, the summit is also one of the initiatives by UTAR, as a university by the people, for the people, to engage the community through various programmes and services. Over the years, the University has continued to uphold social responsibility to support, inspire and help build a resilient community.

The objectives of the summit are to nourish mental well-being and strengthen resilience amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; develop purpose and hope in a time of turmoil; cultivate self-care and self-compassion; nurture self-awareness and foster positivity.

“The ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has enormously affected the psychological well-being, social and working life of millions of people across the world. Malaysia is no exception to this. Hence, I think this is a good opportunity for UTAR to initiate an activity that can help ourselves and the community through this summit. We are very thankful to our partners for enabling this summit to bring a bigger impact to the participants,” said Event Coordinator Ng Foo Yek.
He added, “Instead of focusing on the pandemic and its effects on mental illness, we shifted our focus on resilience and well-being because many researches and studies have shown that well-being is a skill that can be practised and enhanced. Apart from that, people also need to be more resilient, which refers to their capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and toughness in life.”

The theme for week one to six are as follows; ‘Resilience – Path to Happiness’, ‘Wellness Strategy to Build Resilience’, ‘Developing Awareness and Resilience Skills to Endure Hardship’, Practising Mindfulness and Contentment to Increase Resilience’, ‘Strengthening the Body, Mind and Spiritual Connection’, and lastly, ‘Hope, Self-discovery and Joy’, respectively. The final summit will be held on 31 March 2022, Thursday. Click to view the full schedule.