Mental illness can affect anyone irrespective of race, creed or status in life.
Aru (not his real name) is a graduate of a local university and holds a high post in a local authority.
He faced despair when he lost his job just before the Movement Control Order. It came as a shock to him and his family, as all these years he was at the top of his game. Fortunately, his unwavering faith and hope helped him come out with flying colours.
Aru now practices and believes in creating hope among youth by showing the paths available to lift them from despair or depression. He is helping them with job applications and empowering them to oversee their own lives.
Having endured those difficult times, he encourages others through his example and his mantra of not giving up hope.
Aru was fortunate. But, not those who are driven to suicide. Every 45 seconds, someone takes their own life: an estimated 703,000 people a year around the world.
The Royal Malaysia Police reports that from January 2019 to May 2021, 1,708 people took their lives. Even more shocking is that 51 per cent of them were between 15 and 18 years of age.
Each suicide death is a public-health concern with a profound impact on those around them.
It is for this reason that the International Association for Suicide prevention (IASP) in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO), have dedicated Sept 10 every year as World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD).
The day is to create awareness, reduce stigma and spread the message that suicide can be prevented.
The WSPD has set the triennial theme "Creating hope through action" for 2021 to 2023.
The theme suggests that our actions, no matter how big or small, may provide hope to those who are struggling with mental health.
Sneham Malaysia, a non-governmental organisation, held a half-day seminar on Sept 10 about the same global theme. The panel members came from different walks of life, from local and multinational companies and in various leadership capacities.
The common thing about all of them is that they have committed themselves to creating hope among those silently suffering. They want to touch the lives of common people around them by responding to their emotional and spiritual needs.
They enrich and transform people's lives so that they too can enjoy what life has to offer them. The youth are our future. They are the leaders of tomorrow.
But, they too are vulnerable to mental health issues from the pressure to live by the standards of their friends, and pressure from parents to deliver better grades in school and choose a career path dictated by them.
Sometimes the youth are so directionless that they fall in despair; more so when they see their peers more focused and making headway in their studies.
By working closely with them, panel members narrated how their work continues to motivate the youth who need such support in finding their true potential and in transforming poor performers into high achievers.
The panel members agreed that apart from community support, and well-wishers who do not give up on them, faith in God is important to overcome mental health issues and the attendant consequences of stigmatisation, segregation, rejection, and ridicule.
One cannot have hope if one suffers silently. Stigma can only be broken with the community support.
Those bereaved by suicide undergo severe psychological shock resulting in persistent mental and emotional stress affecting all spheres of one's life.
However, the panel believes that if one selflessly forgets their own pain, and provides hope to others by creating awareness about mental health, the helper will find solace and cure to their issues.
The panel's unique perspective was touching and motivating all who were at the seminar.
They energised the audience to support those who are suffering silently no matter where we are, what we do or who we are — as a teacher, a parent, a colleague, a neighbour or a friend.
We can make ourselves available to lend a shoulder or a non-judgemental listening ear and be the 2am friends. Margaret Mead, the British cultural anthropologist, once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Let us then be that small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to "create hope through action".
The writer is senior lecturer at the Unit of Anaesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University