Unmask Your Wounds- The mental health campaign that took Taylor’s University by storm

Leen Ahmed

Malaysia has come to a place where mental health campaigns are taking the spotlight more and more, which is a refreshing change from when this topic was considered wholly taboo.

However, mental health challenges do not look the same for everyone, and for the differently abled community and their caregivers, this was a topic brushed over or met with a great deal of embarrassment.

For King Lim, Janice Chai, Steph Tan, Clara Teo and Chris Khoo, “Unmask Your Wounds”, a digital mental health campaign focused on portraying the challenges faced by the disabled community and their caregivers, became the final year project of a lifetime.

The Unmask Your Wounds Logo

Source: https://www.instagram.com/unmaskyourwounds/

Being born differently abled, King Lim says everyone has their own experiences with mental health and he openly expresses that this was a topic he initially met with a lot of hesitancy.

The team had initially wanted to focus on mental health in general, but with encouragement from their lecturer, Philip Gan Chee Keat, and being inspired by King’s personal journey, they decided to shed light on this topic that is often not taken seriously.

“There are so many voices that aren’t heard,” says King, and the team had done their best to give this community the platform they deserved.

“I knew a few friends who were caregivers who were hesitant, because they had never opened up about their mental health in the role of caregivers,” said Janice while remarking on how the general public felt a certain degree of discomfort discussing this topic.

Along with this challenge, Steph expressed how the team had to be exceedingly aware of all the posts they made as they were fulfilling the role of educating the public, which is not something that should be taken lightly.

Nevertheless, the team strived on, with the mentality that even though their posts did not get the most number of shares or likes, if they could positively impact one person’s life or educate one individual, it would be worth it.

The “Unmask Your Wounds” campaign won a spot on honorable mentions under Diversity and Inclusion Campaigns of the CSR & Diversity Awards 2021

And impactful it would be - with features in multiple newspapers, such as The Star, The English Express and The Chinese Express, the “Unmask Your Wounds” campaign won an honorable mention in the CSR & Diversity Awards of 2021.

The team hopes to continue moving forward with this campaign, step by step. They hope to emphasize the importance of normalizing the disabled community, especially for children.

“Children are curious and they mirror their parents’ behaviour. So teach them to be more inclusive,” says Clara as a final note.