23:48

I attended a workshop on mental health of traumatized children during my electives. It’s probably one of the most interesting workshops I’ve ever attended and probably the only one with a wide range of participants. They were mostly psychiatrists, or people working with mentally ill children..but there were quite a few students, retired teachers, peaditricians. basically we learnt a great way to help children who’ve gone through bad experiences such as the tsunami, a broken family, MVAs or natural disasters.

I really did learn a lot today. And I met a lot of very interestin people. Even met some slightly eccentric people. I had the good fortune of learning from a very experienced woman who worked with child victims of the tsunami. Her stories were incredible. How these children suddenly become orphans and how they have to deal with the sudden,violent loss of their loved ones.

Mostly, mental health has to do with a lot of talking things out. And having someone who can listen and encourage you is a huge step towards recovery. This new system has been implemented in Western countries and has been proven effective. I, however questioned wether this sytem could be as effective in Asian countries, namely Malaysia or Indonesia, where children are so used to not having a voice. Children here are not usually allowed an opinion on things. We are programmed to listen and follow orders. We do things because we are told to, but we are not explained why we have to. Most children do not have a voice of their own. So when crisis strikes, when expressing yourself and what you’re feeling is the best way to recovery, our children find it awkward.

That’s why here in Malaysia, they make use of the child’s creative side, thank God a child’s imagination cannot be taken away from him. So making them draw out their feelings actually does a whole world of good. They tell their stories through their drawings. We can interpret what they’re trying to tell us by their choice of colour, the way they draw and even the intensity of the strokes.

i have decided that i want to be in this line of work in the future, insyaAllah. :)
(im quite sure i dont want to be an O&G specialist.heh.)