Tackling mental health in schools

With the aim of implementing the programme nationwide by the end of the year, the six-month project will start immediately in SM Sains in Teluk Intan, Perak; SMK Ahmad Badawi in Kepala Batas, Penang; SMK Simpang Bekok in Malacca; and SMK St Michael in Penampang, Sabah.

Under the project, students will be subject to a mental health evaluation, and selected teachers will be trained to translate the results as well as advise students on ways of reducing stress or depression.

Dr Adnan: Young people are not educated on how to cope with their emotions and often feel that there is no support for any mental problems that they are facing.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said that student and parent awareness needs to be raised if the programme is to be successful.

“Some students and parents may not understand why they (students) need to be evaluated and this will give them the wrong impression.

“The Education Ministry also needs to decide whether parental consent is needed to take the test,” she said.Taylor’s University Counselling and Psychological Services Centre head Dr Adnan Omar said that the programme was a step forward in addressing mental illness in Malaysia.

“A 2009 study on completed suicides by the National Suicide Registry Malaysia shows that the majority of suicides in that year were committed by those aged 20 and below.

“One of the major problems in the country is that young people are not educated on how to cope with their emotions and often feel that there is no one to listen and support them through the problems they face,” he said.

He explained that a common guide used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose depression is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).