KUALA LUMPUR, SEPTEMBER 24 2018 – The SpeakSpace project, a social enterprise founded by a group of youths as part of an initiative by the Youth Leadership Academy 2018 by McKinsey & Company, with The Malaysian Medical Gazette as one of its main content partner aims to increase mental health awareness among the general public specifically the youths. This collaboration is in keeping with the vision of The Malaysian Integrated Medical Professionals Association (MIMPA) to empower the community with medical and health knowledge.
The SpeakSpace project (thespeakspace.com) is a one-stop centre for all things mental health related; with a Knowledge Base containing information on the subject matter, a directory with a list of mental healthcare professionals, Forums with vibrant topics of discussions, and most importantly, a safe space for individuals to share their thoughts, emotions, and ideas that they want to share with the world anonymously.
“With access to reliable content on mental health topics and options on how to contact mental health professionals made available on thesite, it can act as a novel first step in health seeking behaviour.” says Dr Hidayatul Radziah Ismawi, the Chief Editor of Malaysian Medical Gazette (MMG) and the Vice President of Malaysian Integrated Medical Professionals Association (MIMPA). She adds that “The SpeakSpace provides young people a place to share their feelings online that they may not be comfortable sharing elsewhere.” Dr Amer Siddiq, an Associate Professor with the Department of Psychological Medicine at University Malaya and also an editor of MMG, has also shared that “Looking through The SpeakSpace’s portal and reading through the stories, it’s very telling that we need platforms to discuss and deliberate on mental health matters. Discussion saves lives.”
Forbes Magazine has reported a surge in the everyday man consulting ‘Dr. Google’ and thereby refuting sound medical advice given to by medical health professionals with pseudo-facts that they read online. The aim is to redirect these “Google Doctors” to our platform of readily accessible articles and advice written by certified, real healthcare professionals.
Tan Joey, Co-Founder of The SpeakSpace says: “Malaysians can become empowered to be more proactive in accepting that mental health issues are more common than we think, take the necessary steps to address the issue, and provide a support system for those who need it”.
Dr Nurashikin Ibrahim, a renowned Public Health Physician and Senior Principal Assistant Director from the Ministry of Health, mentioned that “This project will be a good start at empowering the youths to be more vocal about their mental health”. Alongside the government’s new efforts to pay closer attention to the nation’s current state of mental health, with this collaboration, we hope to shift the paradigm and encourage individuals to vocalise their true feelings and have a healthy outlet for their emotions.
The SpeakSpace is also proud to announce its collaboration with other renowned parties, namely the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Malaysian Psychiatry Association (MPA), Laman Minda, and Doc2Us. With these collaborations, it is hoped that this will become a stepping stone towards removing the stigma around mental health issues in the nation. The SpeakSpace: the Space for you to Speak your mind — for you, for me, for everyone.
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For more information on The SpeakSpace, please contact (Tan Joey, Co-Founder) at (+6 016 220 0266) and (info.thespeakspace@gmail.com) or visit thespeakspace.com
The SpeakSpace project is a one-stop centre for all things mental health related; with a Knowledge Base containing information on the subject matter, a directory with a list of mental healthcare professionals, Forums with vibrant topics of discussions, and most importantly, a safe space for individuals to share their thoughts, emotions, and ideas that they want to share with the world anonymously.