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THE HEALTH | JUNE-JULY , 2021
| Cover Story |
Championing mental health
Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan shares her passion for promoting mental health awareness and her personal experience dealing with anxiety
BY FATIHAH MANAF
THE ISSUE of mental health has been very much unaddressed in the past in Malaysia . Only recently , Malaysians have started to discuss it openly due to the rising cases of depression and anxiety caused by the Covid-19 pandemic .
Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah is a solid mental health advocate striving to promote mental health awareness .
However , it was not something that she had initially planned to do . Still , her personal mental health challenge experience and struggles with it led her to do it . She wanted to let people know that no one should suffer in silence .
She highlighted that it was crucial to inform people on the importance of mental health and that discussion on it should be normalised .
The eldest daughter of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri ’ ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah has had her fair share of personal experience dealing with mental health challenges .
That experience taught her to be more self-accepting . Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan is also the Co-Founder and the President of the Green Ribbon Group . This social enterprise aims to empower stakeholders involved in raising mental health awareness . She is also International Patron , World Mental Health Day 2020 .
She shares with The Health her passion for promoting mental health awareness , the stigma around mental illness , the Green Ribbon Group and her personal experience dealing with anxiety .
She also addressed the rising mental health problems caused by the pandemic . She shared some of her plans to promote mental health awareness .
Your passion for promoting mental health awareness in the country is admirable . How did you develop this passion ? Promoting mental health awareness was definitely not something I planned to do . But I did have my own struggles growing up , and I still struggle today . The difference is that I understand what I ’ m going through , and I know how to cope and manage . I only wish I knew more when I was younger . This is the main pull factor for me .