MARVEL
(Mental Illness Prevention in School)
SCOPH CIMSA-BEM KM FK Unand
On Saturday, August 21st, 2021, SCOPH CIMSA-BEM KM FK Unand held the pre-intervention for the Community Development program named MARVEL, consisting of a presentation by the founder of Mental Health Community Care of West Sumatera followed by an informative discussion session.
MARVEL (Mental Illness Prevention in School) is a community development program that has been going on for three years. The main goal is to make MARVEL into a sustainable project in SMAN 1 Kota Padang. Now that MARVEL is in its third year, it has developed a close relationship with multiple of its cadres. We are hoping that MARVEL is one step closer to become a sustainable project.
To get there, MARVEL 2021 is planning on doing two interventions and four mental health campaigns. The pre-intervention which was held last Saturday is the foundation of it all. It consisted of a comprehensive presentation by the founder of Mental Health Community Care of West Sumatera, Mrs. Kuswardani Susari Putri, about the relationship between depression and COVID-19.
“Depression and COVID-19” is the theme of MARVEL 2021. Following last year’s “Anxiety and COVID-19”, we think this fits the most as the sequel.
In her presentation, Mrs. Kus explained that there are physical symptoms of depression such as lack of energy, activity, efficiency, and productivity. Other than that, there are psychological symptoms as well, such as lack of confidence, presence of suicidal thoughts, the feeling of worthlessness as well as guilt. The real problem with most depression cases is not wanting to seek help. This can be caused by two things, whether it's the depression itself that's hindering oneself or the thought that suffering from depression is embarrassing.
Because there are a lot of causes of depression, Mrs. Kus categorized them into only five: psychological, biological, neuro-immunological, genetic, and psychosocial. Thus, depression is not something simple nor a normal ‘sadness’. Depression is a real illness and people who have them should seek help immediately.
After an extensive presentation, Mrs. Kus held an open discussion. SCOPH members utilized this session thoroughly and asked everything that they have doubts about. After the pre-intervention, we followed with a quick awarding and photo session. Overall, the pre-intervention was a success and we as a member gained a lot of knowledge about depression and its correlation with the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that this training can be beneficial for us to share with others.
