LOOKING for an anonymous person to chat with when facing depression or being stressed out?
Instead of communicating verbally, there is another platform for those who seek to communicate through a mobile application by text messages.
Known as PlusVibes mobile application, it is aimed to provide a platform for those who need support and motivation anonymously.
In a phone interview with Buletin Mutiara recently, its chief executive officer Madiha Fuad said every conversation between those seeking counselling and the anonymous person would be made secret.
“We are purely here to comfort and motivate people not to give up their lives. There’s no judging, no backbiting and most importantly, everything is private and confidential.
“PlusVibes was developed in 2020 when I had a harrow experience of permanent nerve damage last three years ago. I was hyperventilating and fell into depression and the only way for me to pick myself up was by finding support and motivation.
“Since then, I developed this mobile application to assist with counselling to those in need.
“Today, PlusVibes has a team who believes in the mission of supporting those who are silently struggling. Our focus is to prevent mental stress from developing into mental illness as the key to this is through emotional support,” she said.
Since the country’s first all-in-one mental health and well-being mobile application was launched, they have a team of about 300 Vibers.
Vibers are those with a psychology or counselling education background who have passed their onboarding programme.
Madiha noted that there would always be tough chapters in life.
“All we need is a cheerleader and a comforter to get us through those challenging times. PlusVibes wants to be someone society can count on for support.
“We believe that awareness is the key to steer away from the mental health stigma by embarking on a self-development approach,” she added.
Stressing the importance of remaining anonymous, Madiha said that the people feel comfortable sharing their concerns.
“We have 40,000 users till now and we have hundreds of requests daily. Since its launch two years ago, we have prevented about 900 suicide ideations,” she said.
Asked about the main age group of the users, Madiha said the users are aged between 13 and 25.
“They tend to share their secrets and we try our best to support, comfort and guide them.
“The youths are our future generation and they will enter the workforce with trauma and mental health issues if we don’t lend a helping hand to them,” she said.
On the expansion plan in Penang, Madiha was glad that the northern states have close to 2,000 people on the mobile application.
“Our youngest Penangite is 14 years old and she managed to find us online”.
Madiha has also looked forward to beginning the expansion plan in Penang this year by conducting free mental health events in schools and universities.
“We are also discussing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PgCare, which is an entity that prioritises the well-being of Penangites,” she said, adding that they were in the process of having more features to improve PlusVibes’.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix courtesy of Madiha Fuad