The Health | December, 2019
14
Highlight
Building an
understanding
community
Society needs to work hand-in-hand with
the patients to eradicate mental health stigma
S
eeking help in mental health can
be a difficult test without the sup-
port of people around us. Afraid of
the judgement and discrimination,
most of mental health patients
choose to suffer in silence.
According to Dr Ellisha Othman, the Man-
aging Director of SOLS Health; there are many
factors that are preventing patients from
seeking help, especially in the underprivileged
and marginalised communities.
“This is not just a mental issue, but also
a social justice issue,” she said during the
Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Preven-
tion Day recently.
“Due to lack of awareness, most patients
are bounded by discrimination from their
family members, work and community,” she
continued with worry in her voice.
“SOLS Health aims to build a healthy and
inclusive community by connecting families
and individuals to mental health services.
Due to limited experts and counsellors in
the field, patients from underprivileged and
marginalised communities face a lot of barri-
ers to accessing mental health services,” she
explained.
“It could be as simple as financial crisis,
or transportation issues and time constraint
– especially the sole care giver. These are the
major factors that keeps them from accessing
provided services.”
For the last five years, SOLS health has
been addressing the issue of stigmatisation
and limited accessibility by reaching out to
communities.
“We have piloted various awareness
campaign within the community. Through
partnerships with various stakeholders,
regulatory bodies, policy makers, NGOs
and different ministries to bring help to the
underprivileged communities in Malaysia.
“We need to develop a mental health
service that combines the evidence based
clinical studies and a strong based community
perspective. SOLS health might not be able
A healthier community
can only be built with
the help of everyone
in it.
Dr Ellisha (left) with
the President and
Founder of MIASA,
Anita Abu Bakar at
the Mental Health
Promotion and Suicide
Prevention Day.
Your effort
counts
A
ccording to statistics, Malaysia
lost five individuals to suicide every
day. That counts to 1825 individuals
per year. Moreover, for every person who
died from suicide, 25 others have attempted
suicide.
Our current state of mental health
“This is a big issue as it reflects the mental
health state for Malaysians,” says Justin
Victor, the Chairman of Befrienders Kuala
Lumpur. “There are many reasons why people
commit suicide. One thing in common is that
they are forced to a point of hopelessness and
see no way out of their situation.”
According to Justin, each one of us has a
Justin is calling the
public to lend a hand
in improving the
mental health of the
people around them.
He believes that the
lay effort can help save
a life.
to overcome all the barriers presented and
that’s where the stakeholders come in. They
are the bridge that connects us to the com-
munity in need of a mental health service,”
she continued.
Stigmatisation has always been the sworn
enemy to mental health patients. According to
Dr Ellisha, the patients and the community are
both responsible to dispose of the stigma and
one could not achieve this without the other. “I am not ashamed to admit as a regis-
tered clinical psychologist, I am also a user
of mental health services. I see a counsellor
and I went through a transition in my life. In
addition, I am a caregiver to my grandparents
who suffers from dementia. Our struggles
might be different but I would like remind
other patients that you are not alone and we
are here to help,” she said to end her speech.
— The Health
role to play in suicide prevention. “If we look
at the lay efforts, there’s a lot that we can do
for suicidal victims,” he explains. “I believe
that if everybody work together, we can
reduce the number of suicide in the world.
And I mean everyone – this includes family
members, friends, and society. We must all
have the capability to help people in need,”
he says.
Justin believes that the public should learn
how to help individuals with mental health
issues instead of isolating or look down on
them. Offer help, but be cautious
Volunteering with Befrienders for more than
20 years have taught Justin an important
lesson – the role of lay effort is extremely
important in suicide prevention.
“We all have a role to play in lending a hand
to the society. I implore the public to learn the
signs of a depressed person so you can help
refer them to mental health services. There
are plenty of mental health services that can
help the people in need, and some of them are
free,” he says.
However, Justin recommends caution
to the public. “It’s important to know your
limitation. You can also be heavily affected
by your surroundings. Therefore, taking care
of your own health is a part of the whole
effort. See to your own mental healthcare so
you are able to help others more efficiently,”
he says.
“Some things are beyond your capability
and it is okay to admit that you need help from
the professionals. It’s not a sign of failure but
a symbol of wisdom.” — The Health
Learn to be helpful
“At the most basic level, learn how to start a
conversation. The government has initiated
the ‘Let’s talk, Malaysia’ campaign to incentiv-
ise the citizen to talk about their mental state.
Similar to the ‘R U OK’ campaign in Australia,”
he says.
“If we make this a habit among us, I believe
that less people will have additional problems
to their mental health,” he continues.