PETALING JAYA: Mental health and the stigmas associated with it are slowly starting to diminish as more Malaysians are not just talking about it but taking initiatives to take the necessary steps in helping those going through it.
Eyes and ears are being opened to the different forms of mental illness and many are coming out with their experiences detailing the nature of their mental illness and finding ways to perhaps seek treatment or opt for talk therapy.
Over the recent years, more so after the Covid-19 pandemic, various organisations and corporations have recognised the importance of mental health and have been taking steps to address the matter through various implementations.
One such impact-based foundation, Yayasan Hasanah alongside Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) has launched a mental health fund, to help by not just talking about mental illness but taking it a step further by finding ways to help those, especially the youths in getting access to treatment and counselling services.
For Malaysia, RM1 million has been allocated to cater to youth mental health in Malaysia through AVPN and Yayasan Hasanah’s US$3milion Asian Youth Mental Wellbeing Fund launched on June 22 to help organisations addressing mental health needs among young people locally and around the region.
The Trustee and Managing Director of Yayasan Hasanah, Datuk Shahira Ahmed Bazeri in an interview with The Sun at The Hasanah Forum and Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) Global Conference (THF x AVPN) 2023 said the foundation will support AVPN to catalyse private sector support towards this important cause in the country.
“We wanted to launch something for the country and the common thing most talked about now is mental health, and have started doing programmes in schools by reskilling school counselors to become mental health frontliners in schools.
“Presently, the fund is focused on the mental health of kids in the country, where a sum has been allocated for Malaysia.
Shahira also said there are youth run organisations and community based organisations that run their mental health programmes and are doing very well in helping those that are in dire need of mental support help.
When asked to elaborate further on her thoughts about mental health, Shahira believes the matter is no longer a subject of stigmatisation, now that more is being spoken about mental illness including raising awareness about the importance of actually talking about it.
“It (mental health) is no longer a taboo topic, with more addressing of it (mental health) being done, However, when it comes to numbers of those suffering from mental illness, it is quite alarming.”
Based on the 2019 National Health Mobility Survey (NHMS), about 424,000 children in Malaysia have mental problems. Meanwhile, one in eight of adolescents aged 10–19, and one in 20 children aged 5–9 years are estimated to have a mental disorder including developmental disorder.
While suicide was the second leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15–19.
“When we talk about youth mental health or teenagers, we see that they are also on social media a lot, where they may be resonating to a certain feeling or guidance online which may or may not be good for them,” she added.
Hence, this fund will help in identifying teenagers and youth that are prone to mental illness and help them in their recovery process, where the foundation works with providing these young people with treatment, if there is a need for it.
Asked on the target groups of the fund, it will be focussed on the Bottom 40 (B40) in the country, comprising those from rural areas and poorer backgrounds who have little to no access to mental health treatment and counselling.
“We will have non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working at the grassroot levels to identify the needs of the youths in the community to which they are stationed and work accordingly to help these youths in dealing with their mental well-being,” she explained.
When asked further on how the fund will be channeled to reach the youths, Shahira said the foundation will distribute the funds to the NGOs involved with Yayasan Hasanah and allocate them accordingly.
“We don’t know what is the maximum amount for each organisation, it could range, it may be RM250,000 for an NGO, we are not sure of the exact amount of funds to be allocated. Since the fund has just been launched, we have not seen the details and terms of reference for the fund,” she said.
Yayasan Hasanah also announced the application for funding, According to Shahira, NGOs can apply. “Of course we will conduct an evaluation of each NGO that is applying for this fund, to see if they fit the criterias etc, a proper vetting will be done before funds are disbursed.
“Yayasan Hasanah has also given grants to more than 600 partners on the grounds, where they have been doing multiple community projects all across the country in all spheres., “ she said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had recently announced the RM50 million in matching grant to Yayasan Hasanah allocated via National Budget 2023 under the Hasanah Special Grant.
In its fourth year running, the Ministry of Finance and Hasanah collaborates to disburse grants that support social impact programmes across Malaysia in Education, Community Development, Environment, Knowledge, and Arts and Public Spaces.
From 2020 to 2022, Hasanah Special Grants worth RM95 million resulted in on-ground support being channelled to 258 civil society partners running 315 social impact programmes benefitting more than two million people across the country.
Of the RM50 million, RM10 million has been earmarked for organisational development grants for accredited Malaysian SEs (Social Enterprises) under the Hasanah Social Enterprise Fund (HSEF) – up from RM5 million that was disbursed in 2022 during the first year of HSEF.
Applications for HSEF 2023 are expected to open in June.
Watch snippets of the interview with Shahira here.
