By Anandpreet Kaur | Malaysia |
Parents, take a break and listen to this mental health expert tomorrow (22 Aug 2021).
“From my experience parents are usually unaware of mental health risks faced by children, many are under the impression children lead stress free lives compared to them,” consultant psychiatrist Dr Semran Kaur Badeshae tells Asia Samachar.
Dr Semran, who has six years working experience as a consultant psychiatrist in Malaysia’s Health Ministry, said the lack of awareness was due to lack of education on mental health.
“Education on importance of mental health should start in school because this is the early years of a child’s life where the foundation is laid, and awareness is created that there is no health without mental health,” she said.
She will be speaking on the topic ‘Covid & Child Mental Health’ at the mental health virtual forum series organised by Wadda Gurdwara Sahib Penang (WGSP). The session will be broadcast live on the gurdwara’s Facebook page.
Asia Samachar is a supporting partner of the forum.
In the session tomorrow, Dr Semran will discuss on the importance of recognizing, acknowledging and treating mental illness. For this, parents would need to equip themselves with knowledge on what to look out for in their children. “I will also be proving information on what can parents do to help their child at home and how to link with services around them,” she said.
Dr Semran, who is currently doing advance training in perinatal and youth mental heath in Australia, has extensive experience in education. She was a former honorary lecturer Taylor’s Medical School and Management and Science University (MSU).
The next speaker in the mental health virtual forum series is Ipoh-based psychiatrist Dr Anildev Singh Malhi who will talk on ‘Lockdown Woes: How Are you Coping?’ on Tuesday (24 Aug 2021). On 31 Aug, consultant psychiatrist Dr Bilbir Kaur Chingara Singh will speak on ‘Depression in the Elderly’.
The virtual forum sessions will be moderated by WGSP committee secretary Sukhveer Kaur, Youngo human rights working group coordinator Alka Kaur and Prof Ishwar Parhar from the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
RELATED STORY:
Penang gurdwara to run mental health virtual forum series (Asia Samachar, 13 Aug 2021)
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