Psychology Malaysia : You Share We Listen - Community Listening Project

What We Are Promoting Listening Ears. Supporting all people, feeling and voices.

What We Are Not Promoting Therapy, Counselling, Crisis Intervention, Religious affiliation.

OBJECTIVE ? Why are we doing this project?

Because, we want you to know that,

when you feel happy, share with us;

when you feel no one else is listening to you, we are and we will;

when you feel hopeless, we want to listen to you;

when you feel helpless, we want to listen to you,

when you feel someone else is discriminating you, we want to be your listener.

WE WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU, TELL US WHO ARE YOU

Our main objectives are

To create public awareness and destigmatize seeking for mental health treatment or support.
To promote the importance of human connection through empathic listening in public spaces.

What is community Listening ?

Chairs will be prepared for you to and the listener to sit down comfortably and have about 10 minutes sharing session about anything you would like to share with us. This event is not a crisis intervention, psychotherapy, or therapeutic, counselling and diagnosis session. Our listener will not give any advice in relation to your sharing topic.

"When we listen to the marginalized emotions inside, we can hear marginalized voices outside" (Traci Ruble, Sidewalk Talk Managing Director).

Statistic on mental health problem in Malaysia

The figure of mental health problems among students is arising from one in 10 individuals in 2011, to one in 5 in 2016. Mental illness is aso expected to be the second-biggest health problem affecting Malaysians after heart disease by 2020 (Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, 2017)
In a report by National Health Morbidity Survey (NHMS), it was found that 4,2 million malaysians aged 16 and above are struggling with mental health issue (Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, 2017)
The number of people reaching out for help through Befrienders Kuala Lumpur had increased 16%, from 21,256 in 2015 to 24,821 in 2016. On average out of 68 people who called daily, 20 of them have suicidal thoughts (Suzanna Pillay, 2017)
According to Befriender’s KL publicity director Ardy Ayadali,there are an increase of suicidal intention calls received from 5,739 (27%) in 2015 to 7,446 (30%) in 2016 and according to him research has shown that suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth between 15 to 29 years old in Malaysia (Suzanna Pillay, 2017)
WorldBank predicted that 340 million people will suffer from depression by 2020 (Dr Philip George, 2017)

Who can participate in free listening?

Anyone can participate. However, we would like to prioritise those who have problems in their life and no one is listening to them, those who feel helpless and those who feel hopeless.
In what situation are you able to come and talk to us :

Something has been troubling you over a period of time and no one around you can understand even you tried to explain, come and talk to us.
Stress, come and talk to us.
You find it hard to talk to friends or family because they are directly involved in the issues, come and talk to us.
Issues from the past are having an impact on your day to day life, come to us, we will listen to you.
Things that are troubling you are having a negative impact on your relationships or work, and no one around you can understand even you tried to explain, come and talk to us.

Let’s us give you some idea, read the situation below.
Ms Stella e.g. relationship problem

Ms Stella is very stress.She found out that her boyfriend is being very nice to another girl recently. Ms Stella don’t think that the girl is prettier than her, but she still can’t understand … Yes. Ms Stella can come and share with us

Ms Agnus e.g. parent conflict

Ms Agnus just finish a very violent verbal fight with his parents. Her parents don’t like her behaviour towards her siblings.

Peter e.g. special behaviour

Peter do not believe in God but his parents forced him to attend church events and other religion related events.

However, the few situations above are just some of the example, you may also come to us about your problem.

Who can’t participate in free listening?

Firstly, we would like to sincerely apologies if we are unable to listen to you due to the following condition stated in the list below. As you may already know, most of our volunteers are students. However, for your convenience, we have also provided a link if you so decide to seek professional help: https://goo.gl/oMdNr9

Below includes (but not limited to) a list of reasons/situations as to why we will not be able to listen to you:

If you have been diagnosed with a mental health problem by a licensed professional (Schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, anxiety, etc.)
If you are suicidal (thinking about suicide, intending to commit suicide, etc.). Please do seek appropriate help from trained professionals such as The Befrienders at 03 - 7956 8144 immediately
If someone you know is suicidal (Please do seek appropriate help from trained professionals such as The Befrienders at 03-7956 8144 immediately)
If you have ulterior motives other than to be listened to. This includes (but is not limited to):

To learn more about psychology, mental health disorders, etc
To sell items and products
To seek a date with a listener, organiser or others in the event
To chat, gossip, discuss, etc.

If you are here to seek/receive counselling (We do apologise but currently this event is solely to allow people to have an outlet to talk. We are here to empathetically listen to you)
If you are here to be diagnosed for a particular disorder
If you are coming to use to get advice, answers or solutions to a problem/situation that you may be facing (We listen but we do not provide advices or consultations)