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Group strives to promote mental health awareness

19 May 2021

While several non-profit organisations and individuals swang into action to help people cope with various challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, Not Alone Volunteer group led by H H Sayyda Basma al Said enhanced its efforts manifolds to boost the mental health of people to fight the onslaught.

Sayyda Basma has presented many initiatives over the past eight years raising awareness on mental health while countering social stigma associated with mental disorders, which may inflict any individual any time.

During this pandemic, Sayyda Basma said many people suffered mental health distractions or must have witnessed a loved one suffering. 

“We have seen that the support we all provide is not enough. And psychological problems may sometimes require the intervention of specialists to help them, and it is natural for this to happen, and we all go through times when we need psychological support,” she said.

The current month, which is marked as the Mental Health Awareness Month, finds a special place in the calendar of the group during which the team members strive to spread awareness about mental health and its importance, besides making people understand the need for psychological help to “alleviate the sufferings of individuals around us”.

In the wake of the pandemic, millions of people have uncovered new mental health conditions and millions more have had their existing challenges exacerbated. 

Keeping this in mind, global initiatives have been taken to mark May 20 as the Mental Health Action Day, that include illumination of several prominent landmarks – in the sultanate such as the Royal Opera House, the German University in Muscat and Omantel, besides the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia – in green, where the green colour symbolises the continuous awareness of mental health to help and contribute to combating the stigma associated with it.

‘We must take action now to meet the needs of our communities and identify opportunities to build long-term resilience’, a statement announcing significance of the day said.

 

‘Candle of Hope’

 

There will be a ‘Lighting a Candle of Hope’ campaign with the participation of several volunteers and influencers from around the world as a symbol of reviving hope in the souls of those who lost it and bringing them back to life again.

 

 

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