Achievers open up on struggles
Dr Abdulaziz al Ghuraibi, an artist with multiple talents, chose to fund his own study and took up jobs until these very jobs took him to where he is today. Now, he has a doctorate and he has made a name for himself.
When Chris Fisher, a radio broadcaster from Liverpool, UK, was asked to calm down, he would become quiet and subdued. “Verbal abuse is worse than physical abuse. Verbal abuse can even be through text/ voice messages,” he said.
Both Dr Al Ghuraibi and Fisher were sharing their ‘NOTALONE’ stories at Oman’s first International Mental Health Forum, and recalling their initial struggles.
Organised by Whispers of Serenity, the forum — which concluded on Saturday — saw speakers candidly sharing their experiences on overcoming fear, anxiety, alcoholism, loss of loved ones, bullying and many more.
“The speakers expressed their joy in sharing their thoughts with each other. We are grateful for the response from the community. We have learnt a lot from the speakers as well as from organising the event,” said HH Sayyida Basma al Said, Founder of Whispers of Serenity. The forum began with Sheikha Majeda al Subah from Kuwait speaking about depression followed by Dr Yuvone Thompson on self-confidence. Dr Thompson, who received the European Women of Achievement Award in 2001 and Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2003, said: “I think there are a lot of people who can relate to what I have to say. My journey has been that I have had many firsts. What people should remember is that they are not alone because we can always find people who have gone through same struggles. We can share our challenges and how we can overcome.”
The event saw workshops on writing therapy for handling stress, therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), drums technique for anger management, meditative brush lettering (art therapy) to heal anxiety and play therapy to handle bullying in schools.
On the concluding day, Ahmad al Harthy, Oman’s international racer, spoke about how he handled his fears.