By Annabal Bagdi | Birmingham Mail | Britain |
Stigma linked to suicide and mental health within the Sikh community was tackled during a special bi-lingual event. Organisation Sikh Forgiveness teamed up with a gurdwara in the Black Country to have difficult conversations on mental health which many in South Asian communities tend to shy away from.
They want to ‘change the outlook’ of mental health among Sikhs across the region, encouraging families not to shun the ‘taboo’ topic. Sikh Forgiveness founder Sandy Kaur said many people were ‘really struggling’, especially as the cost of living crisis deepens.
The 33-year-old said: “Mental health is a really taboo subject and to try to normalise that has been a huge task for us. There is still that level of fear and worry that people will be judged and their mental health is something they should hide.
“But everybody can experience a level of poor mental health at some point. Until we start having conversations about poor mental health, people are still going to have a fear of it.
“We have to break down the barriers and normalise that poor mental heath is not a bad thing. Suicide is preventable but your mental health is something you have to continue to work on.
“It’s not something you can go to the GP about and it’s fixed automatically.” The event called “Mental health ki hun di hai?”, which translates to “What is mental health?”, was held at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick, in High Street, on September 18.
It came just days after World Suicide Prevention Day, which took place on September 10. The free adults-only event saw guest speakers, including those with experience of mental health struggles, discuss suicide and its impact between 3pm and 6pm.
Read the full story here.
RELATED STORY:
Spirituality And Mental Health (Asia Samachar, 21 Feb 2022)
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here
