Peer counsellor buddies changing mental health care on campus

Leen Ahmed

There is no doubt that suicide rates of youth has shot up in the past few years, and Taylor’s University is no stranger to such cases. In 2019, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, “In Malaysia, the 2017 National Health and Morbidity Study found there was a rising trend in suicide among youths aged 13 to 17, and in 2017 about 10 per cent had suicidal thoughts compared with 7. 9 per cent in 2012.”

Mid-August of 2019 necessitated the Center for Counseling Services (CCS) to seriously consider alternatives in the options for getting help with the death of a student and multiple suicide attempts on the rise.

And that was when the ingenious idea of Peer Counsellor Buddies was introduced.

The initiative started by CCS, joined by Taylor’s Connect (a club that creates a safe space for the student body), opened up the avenue for those who desperately needed to reach out.

Despite the upward trend of mental health being destigmatized, youth are still immensely insecure about actively seeking help from professional counsellors due to the societal outlook.

President of Taylor’s Connect, Shivakaaminii, explains how Peer Counselling Buddies provided the necessary additional layer of support that the Taylor’s scene was lacking despite the numerous seminars and workshops that were conducted on the topic.

She said, “Prior to this, there was no constant level of support. For example you have one event and you can't consistently provide that sort of support. It’s a one-off type of thing. And we wanted to create a steady service.”

Pang Chia Yee, a senior psychology lecturer agrees that this is a definite catalyst for change, provided that Peer Counsellors themselves are adequately supervised.

She said, “Every program recommends having some form of peer counselling. Whether the students reach out to them is another aspect that we have to look into.”

On the same note, Adlan Shafi bin Ab Aziz, a Peer Counselling Buddy, says the effort has great potential for more success because the peer counsellors are students who blend in with other students.

“We will have more touchpoints with other students. Thus, we may even approach students in ways that a university counsellor can’t.

In this manner, we can directly promote help-seeking behaviour and reduce the stigma.”

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Shivakaaminii added, “If you are talking to mental health professionals it can be very daunting, like you may think “Oh this is a person of authority”, and they might not necessarily understand the issues that you’re going through.

But when you have a ‘by us, for us’ service, it dispels the stigma considerably.”

Adlan further explained how Peer Counselling Buddies are trained by CCS, through sessions conducted by counsellors, with simulation of being both the client and the counsellor which allows them to empathize better with both parties.

“Even for counsellors and peer counsellor buddies ourselves, we were trained to look after ourselves and find help when needed before thinking about helping others.

There is no saviour that will come to save us, instead the saviour comes from within us.”