Depok-Mental health is one of the global issues that is still considered trivial by many people today. Based on Indonesian Basic Health Research (Riskedas) data in 2018, more than 19 million people over the age of 15 experience mental emotional disorders and more than 12 million people experience depression. The data shows that Indonesia is still haunted by mental health issues. Not only that, mental health issues will have a negative impact on the economy and society.
Yovania Asyifa Jami, student of the Public Relations study program, Vocational Education Program at the Universitas Indonesia is one of those people who is aware of the importance of mental health for students and society. Yovania expressed awareness on mental health by forming a community called Pasti ID.
(Photo: Instagram account @pasti.id owned by Yovania)
Pasti ID is a mental health platform founded in 2021 and is active on the Instagram social media channel @pasti.id. The existence and contribution of this platform has the goal of breaking the negative stigma on mental health issues. One of the activities carried out by Pasti ID is holding a national webinar with the title “Break the Negative Stigma of Mental Health”.
Events organized by Pasti ID are not only carried out online, but also in hybrid. In 2022, Pasti ID held seminars at the Bina Laras Harapan Sentosa 3 Social Institution. The seminar titled “Humanizing Humans” invited dr. Rika Wijayanti, Sp.KJ as an expert resource person and supported by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Social Service. The participants got a lot of direct experience with People with Mental Disorders (ODGJ) and proved that ODGJ can interact normally, they can even produce works.
(Photo: Yovania holding activities about mental health)
As an individual who had been a patient in a mental hospital, Yovania felt that a turning point in her life occurred after that period with the realization that there were still many negative views in society towards ODGJ. They experience a lot of social rejection, so that the treatment of mental disorders is often hampered by this stigma. “I believe that with Pasti ID, I can break this negative stigma by showing the public that people with mental disorders can still contribute to society,” said Yovania.
(Photo: Yovania’s @rsjsurvivor TikTok account)
Apart from that, Yovania has also started to spread awareness of mental health on the social media channel TikTok @rsjsurvivor, which currently has more than 88 thousand followers. She hopes that the content she puts on the short video platform can help many other ODGJ survive and try to accept themselves.
“The courage that I took to tell the story in public can also be shared by other ODGJ friends. Of course, with the support of the surrounding community, especially the immediate environment, it will be an important factor in treating that person’s psychiatric disorder. So, I invite people to get rid of the negative stigma towards mental health and mental disorders experienced by other people,” Yovania concluded in an interview.
