Befriending stress
IT’S no secret that many people suffer from constant stress due to work, home and life in general.
While adults are said to be more prone to it, these days students have become no stranger to the stresses of education.
At Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) Sungai Long Campus, a group of final year students reading the Bachelor of Corporate Communication programme partnered with the Malaysian Mental Health Association (MMHA) in a bid to educate undergraduate students to develop a positive perception towards stress.
The outcome – a one-day event titled “Dear Stress” focusing on the theme “Let’s be friends”.
Part of the line-up of events included talks by MMHA’s Datin Dr Ang Kim Teng, IOI Properties Group’s Kristine Ng and Soh Yi Wern covering various approaches to coping with stress and promoting awareness about subsequent stress-induced mental health issues.
Students also partook in various games and activities as a form of “temporary escape”, besides a special session on yoga breathing techniques by Ee Lee and performances by local artistes, namely, pop duo Thomas & Jack (also known as TJ or Dong Yu Zhe in Mandarin), singer Daniel CheZi, and hip hop group ManHand.
“I personally feel that stress is an important issue to be addressed because it is relevant to all of us especially university students who experience constant pressure from the demands of studies,” said Utar Faculty of Creative Industries dean Dr David Tneh Cheng Eng.
At the closing of the event, the organisers presented Ang with a donation of RM2,000 in support of MMHA’s work.
The donation was made possible by the event’s sponsor, IOI Properties Group.