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Volunteers, professionals collaborate to address mental illness
A stigma is still attached to mental illness in the minds of many Indonesians, but volunteer groups are seeking to change that.
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You're not alone: Participants gather for a meet-up organized by mental health community Alpas. (JP/Audrie Safira Maulana)
A stigma is still attached to mental illness in the minds of many Indonesians.
Indonesian society still perceives mental illness as something either trivial or irrational. Ironically, a large portion of the population suffers from mental illness.
The latest study by global public opinion and data company YouGov finds that 27 percent of Indonesians have had suicidal thoughts. The actual figure could be higher, given that Indonesians by and large are embarrassed to open up about mental illness.
Indonesian mental health communities have been increasing efforts to raise public awareness and aid mentally ill people.
One of those communities is Alpas, which takes its name from a Tagalog word that means “to become free”.
Alpas was established in early 2019 on the initiative of four youngsters who had worked together as volunteers at another mental health community. Their main purpose is to eliminate the stigma of mental health issues through a variety of ways.
“There is still an assumption that people going to a psychologist are simply crazy […], and there are also factors that contribute to the stigma, including a lack of facilities, limited access [to professional help], the cost, and so on. Therefore, many sufferers choose to keep quiet,” Alpas cofounder Olphi Disya Arinda told The Jakarta Post.
