FMIPA UII – Mental health is one of the keys for a person to achieve a happy life. Having good mental health will make someone more likely to think positively about various things. Conversely, someone who has mental health issues tends to respond to actions with negative feelings and chaotic thoughts.

Responding to this, the Pharmacy Study Program of the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) held a training session on the importance of mental health first aid. The training, which was conducted online via the Zoom platform on Sunday (June 19), featured Hana Morrisey, a researching lecturer and certified instructor at Mental Health First Aid.

This training, organized by UII and MHFA England, is one form of UII’s concern for the importance of mental health, both on campus and in the wider community. One of the main goals of MHFA is to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental disorders, and the presence of first aid can be very helpful.

In her session, Hana Morrisey explained mental health, starting from the definition of mental health, depression, risk factors for depression, stigma and discrimination, mental health first aid actions, and several other matters related to mental health.

According to Hana Morrisey, issues related to mental health are now very common, so there needs to be efforts to prevent and treat people experiencing mental health disorders. Moreover, there are many issues of discrimination against people with mental illness. It is also important to promote education and awareness about mental health so that situations that may worsen the condition of those mentally disturbed can be avoided.

Furthermore, for mental health first aid, there is a term called ALGEE, which represents steps for mental health first aid. ALGEE stands for:
Approach the person (assess and assist with any crisis),
Listen and communicate non-judgmentally,
Give support and information,
Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help, and
Encourage other support.

Several points explained by Hana Morrisey are ways to perform mental health first aid, and it is essential for us to understand how important this is to learn.

The Head of the Pharmacy Study Program, apt. Saepudin, S.Si., M.Si., Ph.D., stated that the training was held because, based on available data, mental disorders have increased significantly since 2018, and this topic is still rarely discussed.

“Perhaps because this topic hasn’t been widely raised, especially not in the narrower field of pharmacy. Mental health issues among today’s youth are trending, but many tend to misperceive or overuse self-diagnosis. Terms like ‘mentally affected’ or ‘depressed’ are being thrown around casually,” he said.

According to Saepudin, the goal of this event is to increase awareness about mental health issues and how to handle them.

“The first goal is that we will have more people with higher awareness regarding mental health. Next, beyond just having awareness, they should be ready to provide first aid to people around them who may be experiencing mental health issues,” he explained.

He hopes that events like this can be held continuously. “Hopefully, this will not be the first and last. We hope to build cooperation, initiate partnerships with MHFA England or MHFA Australia, so that we can organize future trainings or even initiate our own,” he concluded. (JR/RS)

Source: https://pharmacy.uii.ac.id/pentingnya-pertolongan-pertama-kesehatan-mental/