By Khatijah Jistoh
Many mental health cases go untreated mainly due to the deep-seated societal stigma towards people facing mental health challenges. The Ministry of Health Malaysia’s MENTARI Malaysia programme is dedicated to changing public perception of mental health and helping the affected individuals to lead normal lives.
This article takes a look at how the MENTARI Malaysia facility in Sandakan, Sabah, is assisting patients to integrate into society.
SANDAKAN: She may look normal but Tan has been grappling with mental health issues for which she is receiving treatment.
It is fortunate that two years ago the young woman turned up at the MENTARI Malaysia facility here – a government mental healthcare centre – to seek treatment. Tan, 25, who did not want to give her full name, feels better and calmer now and has even started a small business and earning an income with the skills she acquired at the centre.
“I learned to cook at MENTARI under the guidance of ‘Cikgu’ Asnah (occupational therapist), and at home, I started a business selling chips and crab sticks that I make myself.
“I also search for recipes on YouTube, then modify and make them myself. I’m happy because I have my own business,” she said when met by Bernama recently, adding she has also become more confident and learned to manage her money better.
Like Tan, other patients, referred to as ‘clients’ by the centre, have also achieved a degree of stability in their lives as a result of undergoing proper medical treatment and participating in programmes to learn job-related skills, enabling them to stand on their own feet and contribute to the community.
Sandakan’s MENTARI facility, which goes by the name MENTARI Elopura, is among the 33 MENTARI Malaysia centres located nationwide.
In 2014, the Ministry of Health Malaysia rebranded its Community Mental Health Centres as MENTARI Malaysia to give mental healthcare a more positive connotation, as well as serve as a new approach to improving its outreach services and fostering the reintegration of people with mental health conditions undergoing treatment.
MENTARI Elopura, which was opened in 2018 and currently has 60 clients, comes under the purview of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan.
Job coach
“Here, we don’t only treat people (for their mental health issues) but they are also guided to empower themselves and function normally in the community.
“We have doctors, nurses, assistant medical officers and occupational therapists (in the centre) who act as ‘job coaches’ to train our clients and serve as intermediaries between patients and employers, and between employers and the medical team at the hospital,” explained Dr Cheang Yue Wen, head of Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the Duchess of Kent Hospital.
She said out of the 60 patients currently undergoing treatment at Mentari Elopura, nearly half of them are aspiring to join or return to the labour market.
MENTARI Elopura occupational therapist Azline Ajit said the centre sees potential in every patient to reintegrate into the community, even if the issues they face are serious.
“Treating them is not easy, but it’s not impossible. For instance, out of 10 patients, half can be helped by earning their trust and focusing on their abilities,” she said, adding family support also plays a role in the patient’s recovery process.
Referring to one of her clients, a homemaker with severe anxiety disorder, Azline said apart from receiving treatment, the woman was also exposed to activities like baking bread and cakes.
“After two years, she now has her own online bakery business. She started with just a few orders but now her business volume has grown and it is her main source of income. She still continues follow-up treatment at MENTARI,” she added.
Develop skills
Azline said the skills-related activities conducted at MENTARI Elopura enable their clients to start a business with a small capital but which assures them sufficient income to be independent.
She currently supervises 13 to 15 patients, two of whom are capable of standing on their own feet while the rest still require a little more assistance.
“I observe my clients’ abilities, that is, how they cope with simple to complex skills. The simple ones include making baskets from newspapers, the medium level involves weaving baskets while the most challenging (skill to master) is making crocheted crafts.
“Crocheting requires the use of fine motor skills because it involves hand and wrist movements. So far, of our two independent clients (at the centre), only one has attained the high-level skill,” she said.
Azline also said their clients are taught stress management and relaxation techniques, as well as how to manage their finances.
“Some clients have low intellectual levels and don’t know how to use money, so we teach them,” she said.
Be independent
Asnah Kornelis@ Amran, another occupational therapist at MENTARI Elopura, said their clients are trained until they can perform their daily routines independently and earn their own income.
“I handle the domestic section, where clients are taught household tasks like cooking, baking and cleaning. Currently, I have six active clients,” she said.
She said at home, patients are usually not encouraged to do housework as their families think they are not capable of doing it well.
“But here I encourage them to do these tasks as a way to boost their self-confidence,” she said, adding, “They follow what we say. These clients, if given the opportunity to cook, sell and get involved in any activity… they are very happy.”
Asnah said her clients engage in different activities throughout the week such as baking and cooking on Mondays and Wednesdays, and being involved in sales activities at the centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays where they sell foodstuffs and handicrafts they themselves have made.
This approach not only provides psychological support to the patients but also builds their self-confidence and social skills when they get to interact with the community.
“If there is a sales carnival elsewhere, I bring our clients along. Through this, they get a lot of exposure… they can learn about running their own business. We need to support mental health patients a lot, instilling in them that they can do it and are not useless,” she said.
One of the clients of MENTARI Elopura, who only wanted to be identified as Lydia, 26, acknowledged that her life has improved since seeking treatment at the centre in 2022.
“At MENTARI, all the therapists are my friends. They are always motivating and supporting me.
“Here, I learned to make kuih and juice, and also learned sewing. I want to be given a chance to lead a normal life,” she said.
She added she has also learned to handle stress and keep herself calm because, even though she takes medication, sometimes her emotions are tested, causing her mind to be confused. – BERNAMA
