The Health | september, 2019
24
WOMEN
Voice
out against
stigma
Four Malaysians came together
to battle mental illness stigma
S
he suffered from depression
during her second year in degree
study. Brought up in a family
where emotions were an uncom-
fortable topic to talk about, it was
such a difficult part of her life that
she had to go through. Luckily, she sought
help from a friend who then encouraged her
to seek professional help.
Today, 25 year-old Zulaikha Mohamad
is one of the four founders of Malaysian
Youth Mental Health Initiative, or MINDA
for short. It was created to empower young
people to advocate for mental health
awareness.
The origin story
“I did my degree in Psychology and Cognitive
Neuroscience in University of Nottingham
Malaysia. After I graduated, I kickstarted
MINDA with three of my friends. At first, it
was just an interest in psychology but after
having to deal with mental health issues per-
sonally, I decided to come up with a project to
advocate the importance of mental health,”
says Zulaikha.
“I was 22 when we established MINDA
– that was three years ago. All three of us
actually had personal experiences with
mental illnesses; I had depression and
anxiety, my friend had post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and another friend had
borderline personality disorder.”
Zulaikha explained that MINDA’s
approach for advocacy is largely focused from
the perspective of the person experiencing it
rather than a professional.
“We see a lot of organisations and NGOs
talking about mental health from the
perspective of professionals or caregivers.
However, we as people with experience want
to tell people our point of view.”
MINDA’s main purpose is to not only
create awareness but also be an example that
people experiencing mental health issues
are not what the stereotypes often portray.
“Everyone has their own commitments, and
it is normal that we struggle to manage them.
Therefore it is really important to take some
time off as a way to take care of ourselves.”
Unshaken stigma
According to the 25-year-old activist, there
still exists a lot of stigma towards mental
health issues – not only from society but
from professionals as well.
“A lot who shared their stories online
spoke about how they were discriminated
against by school counsellors or nurses.
There was this one person who self-harmed
and had to be brought to the emergency
room. The nurse who was treating the person
told them that they were better off not living.
Cases like this happen quite frequent. It’s
weird because we encourage people to seek
help but we have to acknowledge that it
doesn’t mean you will actually get help – it’s
a sad truth,” she laments.
“There was a thread where netizens were
sharing their personal stories with school
counsellors. A lot of it goes in the same direc-
tion, where when they share their issue to
the counsellor, the counsellor spreads it to
FOUNDERS
MEETING: Mimie
Rahman, Fatin
Nurafiqah Abdul
Fata and Zulaikha
Mohamad are the
founding members.
I was 22 when we established MINDA – that was
three years ago. All three of us actually had personal
experiences with mental illnesses; I have depression
and anxiety, my friend has post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and another friend has borderline
personality disorder.” – Zulaikha Mohamad
entire school,” notes Zulaikha sadly.
Ramping up awareness
“We have been growing steadily and are
trying to create more projects currently,
not only online but offline as well. We have
recently collaborated with Mental Illness
Awareness & Support Association (MIASA)
on a short documentary on people with
mental illnesses in a circle time – they share
what they are going through. The documen-
tary is called ‘I’m Fine’.”
MINDA is also currently in works to
release merchandise related to mental health
awareness in order to raise funds. Apart from
that, Zulaikha has started the Borak Minda
podcast, a lay-back Malay-English podcast
on mental health. The podcast is MINDA’s
casual way of talking about mental health
issues. — The Health
Zulaikha Mohamad
had difficulties
navigating through her
depression when she
was studying for her
degree, but received
help with assistance of
friends.
I am not ashamed
#ImNotAshamed is a viral hashtag
movement started by Rachel Griffin,
a singer/songwriter, mental health
advocate. She asked strangers
to join her in exposing the most
private parts of their lives. She put
the call out of Twitter: Disclose
your mental illness and then
declare #imnotashamed.
The #TeamNotAshamedMY
movement followed suit with a
collaboration between Malaysian
Youth Mental Health Initiative
(MINDA) and Relate Malaysia as a
way to stand up against the stigma
and unite for mental health.
“We gained more attention after
another mental health NGO, Relate
Malaysia wanted to collaborate with
us on a social media campaign.
It’s called the #ImNotAshamed
campaign. The purpose of the
campaign is to show people that we
are not ashamed to talk about mental
health.”
Those suffering from mental
health problems were invited to
share a selfie of themselves and
their stories on social media with
the hashtags #ImNotAshamed and
#TeamNotAshamedMY.
Best part? You don’t need to have
a mental illness to participate. “Those
who do not have any experience
with mental health issues wrote
encouraging messages,” explained
Zulaikha.
The campaign was a success.
According to Zulaikha, it reached
over a thousand likes and over a
hundred entries were submitted.
“Looking at it now, it doesn’t
feel like a lot but when we were just
starting out, it was really a big deal for
us because we were receiving all the
entries.” — The Health
Youth and Sports
Minister Syed Saddiq Syed
Abdul Rahman joining the
#ImNotAshamed campaign.