World Mental Health Day to be celebrated on Oct 13

Sep 16, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Mental health is rarely talked about openly because those who suffer from it are scared of being judged and looked down upon. Society looks down on mental health disorders, thus making sufferers hide their condition.

The best way to deal with this stigma is through facts and a better understanding of mental health dilemmas.

October 10 is World Mental Health Day. It is a day for mental health education, awareness and advocacy, an initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health to raise public awareness of mental health issues worldwide.

In the Archdiocese of KL, it will be celebrated on October 13 with the theme, United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The idea behind this theme aspires to prompt us to view our families with unified and connected kindness. It also aims to remind us about being gentle and considerate to one another.

Archbishop Julian Leow will start the celebration at the Holy Family Church, Kajang with an Opening Address and Prayer.

Events have been planned from 8.00am-5.00pm. The focus of these events is to promote open discussions on mental health disorders, as well as to encourage communities to look at mental health in a more understanding light, in an effort to reduce stigma and make way for more people to seek the help and support they deserve.

Dr Johnben Loy, who specialises in marriage and family therapy, is the chief speaker at the morning plenary session. He aims to bring to attention the issues families are facing in our world today, and begin the conversation around what they need in order to nurture healthy, happy and resilient families.

After the morning plenary session, there will be four concurrent workshops. The main design for the workshops is “Challenges Faced by Families and Marriages Today”.

Dr Nicole Chen will conduct a series of interactive dialogues to inculcate the habits of highly effective parenting.
Dr Yeo Pei Li will talk about giving each other space in the family.

Mrs Tan Ah Eng will show us how to celebrate each other’s unique worth with a deeper understanding of mental health issues.

Mr Warren Tan will explore with us some ideas on how to connect with families on a more profound point.

For those interested to attend the Mental Health Day celebration, please call 017-358 6188 or email [email protected] to register. The closing date for the registration is Sept 30.