Ida Bagus Nyoman Adi Palguna
Gianyar, Indonesia
WHAT IS YOUR SPECIFIC AREA OF INTEREST IN YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY?
Group advocacy, peer advocacy, legislative advocacy, and anti-stigma advocacy.
WHY IS YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Youth mental health advocacy is important because it can reduce mental health stigmas and increase mental health literacy in society. It is also the foundation for the creation of any youth mental health programs, policies, strategies, and systems. Without mental health advocacy, no youth mental health intervention is effective.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
Mental health is still taboo in the Indonesian community. Indonesian people often associate mental health with mental health disorders and view those who live with the conditions as crazy and lacking religious faith. Such a negative outlook on mental health is largely caused by a lack of mental health education.
PROPOSED FELLOWSHIP PROJECT
Project: dengarkanaku.org
Prevalent mental health stigma, low mental health literacy, and the absence of an established youth mental health system prevent Indonesian young people from seeking mental health support. As a result, they live with undiagnosed mental health conditions, face mental health stigmas, and do not receive mental health support. When young people live in such conditions, their mental health can worsen, which can lead to low quality of life. Addressing the issues will allow Indonesian young people to live with optimal mental health and contribute to the betterment of Indonesian society.
It is known that insufficient mental health education and promotion efforts are some contributing factors to the problem. There have been some mental health education and promotion efforts from the Indonesian government and NGOs. However, their efforts are insufficient to address the issues because they mainly focus on the western regions of Indonesia and do not involve young people and their lived experiences. Moreover, there is no established youth mental health system in the country, which exacerbates the existing youth mental health problems.
To address the issues, dengarkanaku.org aims to create a future where all Indonesian young people can talk about their mental health conditions openly and have adequate mental health resources so that they can live with optimal mental health conditions. Such a goal will be achieved by eliminating mental health stigma in society and providing young people with adequate mental health resources through mental health promotion efforts in the form of education, empowerment, and advocacy programs covering their personal, social, and environmental areas.