THE D’Home Mental Health Association will be holding a series of public talks on mental health via Zoom platform over three Saturdays, beginning this Saturday on July 3.
Its president Datuk Leslie Lee said registration has been overwhelming with over 700 already registered for the event.
“All are welcome to this beneficial talk,” Lee said.
“Statistically one in every four families may have one of their loved ones suffering from severe mental health challenges.”
The topic for the talk on July 3 is ‘Understanding Bipolar Mood Disorder’ from 10am to 11.30am. The Zoom platform for this talk is limited to 100 participants but it will go on Facebook live.
Dr Laavanya Vijaya Kumar, a psychiatrist pratising at the Penang Hospital, will be the speaker.
She will touch on:
- What is Bipolar Mood Disorder?
- What are the symptoms of mania and depression?
- How is Bipolar Mood Disorder different from Unipolar Depression?
- How is the condition treated?
- Is normal life possible?
- How to help and support your loved one who has Bipolar Mood Disorder?
- There is no Health without Mental Health.
The subsequent two talks on July 10 and July 17 are in Bahasa Malaysia on the topic ‘An Insight of Family Link Education Programme (FLEP)’ from 10am to 4pm via Zoom.
Lee said the programme is specially tailored for the benefits of the immediate members of a family, especially the caregiver (s) in the event mental illness afflicted the family.
“The FLEP provides awareness for better understanding and early detection of mental illness, and through early medical treatments, the recovery’s outcomes can be greatly improved.
“Most of all, if the awareness of mental illness is well-understood by the public, through education such as FLEP, the societal discrimination and stigma towards people with psychiatric disabilities will gradually reduce over time.
“It will further result in earlier recognition, professional intervention and early support consequently leading to better prognosis and better chances of recovery for the patient,” Lee explained.
Lee has been providing free premises since 2004 to D’Home, including its current bungalow lot of 15,000sq ft comprising four-storey detached unit at 66 Lintang Bukit Jambul.
All their services are free since 2004 including clinical counseling by D’Home psychologist (normally RM200 per hour by private psychologist).
Donations are, however, welcome. They can be channelled to Persatuan Minda D’Home, Maybank Acc No: 507068122685. All donations are tax exempted.
To register for the July 10 and 17 talks, please go to https://forms.gle/rWTBBr5FjXsxuBWx8.
For enquiries, call 012-425 1600 (D’Home Secretariat).
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix courtesy of D’Home Mental Health Association