Mental health vital

IT might sound clichéd but it bears repeating that “it is okay to not be okay”.

With this in mind, Nur Afiqa Amani Muhd Safwan Sajani (pic) has been doing her part to promote mental health awareness through a project named “It’s Okay:

Tackling Mental Health with Socioemotional Learning (SEL)”.

Her efforts culminated in the 19-year-old student mentor at Keningau Vocational College (KVC), Sabah, being selected as a presenter at the “Youth Summit: Transforming Education in Southeast Asia” in Quezon City, the Philippines, recently.

It all began early this year when Nur Afiqa Amani and her team conducted a survey on 831 students at KVC, and discovered that many students were struggling with their mental health after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We knew we had to do something to help the students relax or forget about their problems – even for just a short moment,” the culinary arts student told StarEdu.

Thus, the “It’s Okay” project, which aims at helping students cope with anxiety and stress, as well as improve their well-being through SEL, was born.

“It is really sad to see people lose control of their emotions, and even do something unforeseeable. So, as student mentors, my team and I want to offer our help,” she said.

Among the activities which have been held as part of the project include a nature walk, origami therapy, a dance party and socioemotional workshops.

In addition, Nur Afiqa Amani has led her team to presenting their project in three virtual conferences.

The youth summit held from June 27 to 28, she said, gave her a platform to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and reinforce the need to incorporate SEL into classrooms.

“At first, I felt very nervous because it was my first time going abroad, but it turned out to be really fun because everyone was really friendly and welcoming.

“I made a lot of friends and we exchanged ideas about how we could improve our education through psychosocial and mental well-being.

Everyone was motivated to make the school safer and more fun,” she said, adding that she exchanged contacts with other presenters as they were planning to initiate a collaboration.

Moving forward, Nur Afiqa Amani and her team plan to set up an SEL Space at KVC, so that “anyone can have a place to release stress anytime they want”.

On the message she would like to convey to her peers, she said: “I just want to say that it is okay to not be okay.

We are humans and we have feelings. If someone doesn’t feel the way you feel, it doesn’t mean you have to go through it alone.

“Remember, you are not alone; you are seen. We are with you and you don’t have to struggle in silence,” she said.

In a statement, KVC director Christine Stanislaus Kinsik expressed her pride and joy in another milestone achieved by one of her students.

She hoped that the project would be scaled up to help improve the community’s awareness of how to look after their well-being and of the availability of help that they can access.

The youth summit was organised by Seameo Innotech, which stands for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology.

The event, which gathered youth leaders from South-East Asia for the sharing and learning of working models and educational innovations, was held at the Seameo Innotech Campus in Quezon City and Nur Afiqa Amani was accompanied by KVC Hospitality Department head Anita Md. Yasin.

Li Zhen, 19, a student in Selangor, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. To join Star-NiE’s online youth community, go to facebook.com/niebrats.