IMU Mental Health Week 2021: Raising Awareness on Support Systems

“The first step is always the hardest. But once you take the first step, things will get easier from then on.” It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

With the pandemic still raging on, our mental health is more delicate than ever. Despite the high prevalence of mental health disorders, most of us shy away from getting the help we need. This is either due to the social stigma surrounding it or the lack of awareness about the available support. The IMU Peer Support Club, acknowledged this reality and organised a variety of activities for the public, to raise awareness on support systems, both interpersonal and intrapersonal. We had an assortment of activities lined up throughout the week where we explored the components of B.R.I.G.H.T., under our main theme of It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.

These components include:
Be kind to yourself
Reflect
Inspire self and others
Grow to be a better self
Hope
Tackle the stigma.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our participants for starting off on this journey to enhancing their mental wellbeing with us during Mental Health Week 2021. The response we received from participants was overwhelming, with some global participation as well. All of us at the committee had a splendid time planning and organising these activities, and hope that the participants enjoyed them and grasped as much as they could from them.

The “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay: You’re Not Alone” forum has seen immense participation from the public, and we truly appreciate all the support received from the audience. We would like to express our sincere appreciation for our speakers, Puan Anita, Ms Sheau Huey and Ms Ying Yin, as well as our moderator, Mr Kenneth, who made this event very insightful and enjoyable for the attendees. The feedback received was wholly positive with many wishing to have more such forums in the future.

Our daily interactive Instagram activities had quite a lot of engagement from students, and it was lovely getting to know you all and being by your side on your self-care journey throughout the week. Alongside, we also had a Mindfulness Friday Yoga session on Friday evening where students joined us for a relaxing evening after a long week of classes.

Besides these, we had some activities in collaboration with Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Counselling students which included a Self-Compassion session, and Self-Exploration activities, respectively. These activities garnered promising responses from our dearest participants, and we genuinely hope they achieve their goals of being more loving and compassionate towards themselves.

Heartiest congratulations to the Healthy Lifestyle Creative Collage Competition and the Forum Lucky Draw winners. We loved seeing you unleash your creative potential and coming up with such ingenious entries. Here’s hoping that you all can continue following a healthy lifestyle and prioritising your mental wellbeing.

A huge shout out to our supervisor Ms Ain and our committee members who had immense pleasure in planning these activities and getting to know you all in Mental Health Week (MHW) 2021. Looking forward to seeing you again in our future events and until then, stay safe and remember, it’s okay to not be okay.

Written by Aisha Eshak Harunani, Project Leader MHW2021

Mental Health Week 2021 Activities
Self-Compassion	Workshop
Self-Exploration	One-to-one activities
Mindfulness Friday	Yoga session
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay: You’re Not Alone	Forum
Healthy Lifestyle Online Competition	Creative collage
Interactive Instagram Activities	Daily interaction
Instagram Knowledge Posts	Evidence-based knowledge sharing
MHW 2021 Closing Ceremony	Closing ceremony and prize giving