Our Story

Since 2017, MindFlu first started out as a project initiated by UCSI university students serving the community, mainly the youth and mental well-being community. It is an integrated platform formed as a subdivision for the programme of SEP 200 bridging under the Youth Beyond Boundary(YBB). Essentially, MindFlu is a youth initiative advocating for mental well-being that aims to create a society more inclusive and supportive of mental health issues and mental well-being. There may be a number of mental health associations in Malaysia but it’s devoid of youth initiatives.

As such, our main component would be youths helping to spread mental health awareness to other youths and the community.

In Malaysia, mental health is a rarely discussed topic so many are unaware of the importance of mental well-being with a vast majority believing that mental illnesses do not exist. MindFlu plays a crucial role, especially among youths, in putting a halt to the existing stigma revolving around people with mental afflictions. By involving the youth, they could bring Malaysia forward in the movement of well-being advocacy. Through workshops, programmes and activities that MindFlu has held and will hold, we hope to get the youths started on mental health discussion and realize its relevance instead of brushing it off.

Our motto - Mental health is as essential as physical health that deserves to be acknowledged and treated well.

• A mental illness disturbs the thinking, behavior, energy or emotion that make it difficult to cope with the ordinary demands of life.

• 1 out of 4 people in a worldwide suffers from a mental disorders. (World Health Organisation (WHO) , 2001)

Our tagline - It’s Ok To Talk About It

• To promote the importance of openly talking about mental health issues for it's ok to not be ok.

Origin of the name, MindFlu:

• To normalize mental health issues knowing that it can affect anyone, and should be treated as common as having a flu to encourage people to seek help with lesser stigma.

What do we do?

Categories:

• Webinar/Talk

• Discussion

• Simulations

• Projects

Purpose:

1) Why webinar/talk?

• To share insights from mental health professionals or activists to embark on various topics that surround mental health awareness, literacy, stigma and people with mental affliction.

• Collaborator: SOLS Health (now known as Thrive Well)

2) Why discussion?

• Knowing the importance of openly and safely talking about mental health issues, we want to impart the positive impact of sharing on mental health.

• Collaborator: TRIBELESS, Unmask The Wounds , UCSI lecturer, UCSI psychology master trainees

3) Why simulations?

• To break the stigma that surrounds mental illness, we impart the interactive approach using digital or physical tools in such a way that provides a strong understanding in people with mental illnesses.

4) Why projects?

• To make changes to the way we produce the mental health related social impact.

• Eg: Volunteering project, VR project, Bipolar Disorder Quest, Video Project.

• Collaborators: RIPPLE community, MMHA, SOLS Health (currently known as Thrive Well)

• We build up committees’ capacity

  • Through: Internal Capacity Building

  • Internal Capacity Building consists of internal and external events that aim to develop and improve the skills, knowledge and abilities of MindFlu members to run a youth initiative and achieve our missions through the means of using a myriad of resources such as webinars, podcasts and so on. Furthermore, we also organised internal development sessions which aim to encourage discussion or sharing among the members as well as widen their knowledge and advocacy on mental health.

  • Examples :

    1. How to manage conflict in relationships by Relate Malaysia

    2. Head over Heels #11 Overcoming Eating Disorder

    3. SOLS 24/7

• We raise mental health awareness in the community across social media.

  • Making contents to post on our social media, namely Instagram and Facebook.

  • We cover topics such as :

    1. Real life story about experiences with mental health to spread a more realistic view on mental health

    2. Current news about mental health to report relevant trends or findings about mental health

    3. The different mental disorders (definitions, symptoms, myths and facts), to break the stigma about mental disorders and remind the readers that it is alright to talk about mental health

    4. Mental Health tips such as how to be a better listener and how to perform self-care, to inform the readers on how to manage one’s mental health better and how to be better advocates

    5. Positive quotes to uplift the mood of the readers

• Social media can not only be a platform to build connections with other people, but also a place to discuss and learn about important topics. The general purpose of sharing contents through social media is to spread awareness and to create a ripple effect. Most people have access to the internet, especially among youth. Therefore, youth can use social media as a tool to raise awareness and inform the people in their circle about the information they found. Moreover, the greater the reach MindFlu has, the more impact we can give through our events and our content.

• Not only through informative contents, MindFlu conducts online activities such as “7 days of self-care challenge”, “Little Acts of Kindness, To-Do List”, “My Mental Health Resolution” to allow the participants to take the first step in becoming an advocate, by reflecting on their own mental well-being and inviting their friends to do same.

What have we achieved?

Khind Starfish Foundation

• A notable achievement of MindFlu is that in support of SDGs, we were selected as one of top three in the Project for Happiness by Khind Starfish Foundation for two consecutive years, receiving a total of thousands of RM in funding from Khind Starfish Foundation. Thanks to the funds, we are able to create more impacts on society in raising mental health awareness.