According to the data of World Health Organization (WHO), it is shown that at the end of 2017, almost one million people die every month because of mental illness that is caused by depression and disappointment due to bullying.
This phenomenon makes Rizka Aliya Putri to campaign about the awareness of mental health of bullying victims. Rizka explained that this problem is only happened in Indonesia, but also in many countries. This becomes a major issue in handling mental health. Rizka who is a student of Communication Science of University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), said, “This issue is related to human life. It is not only about how to take care of people who suffer of mental illness”.
Through Teman Bicara / Partner Talk in a course of Communication Science, Rizka developed this project to embrace people who suffer of mental illness. Rizka said, “I asked permission to my friends to develop this project. I want to share with many people through this project”.
Being one of 37 delegations from all over the world in Global Engagement Summit (GES) 2018 in Chicago, USA, Rizka was the only one of the delegation of Indonesia who joined this prestigious event. GES is an annually agenda held by the organization members of GES from North Western University, Evanston, United States of America. Rizka admitted that, “I was a victim of bullying when I was in Junior High School. I was bullied orally and I can feel it hurts even until now”.
Teman Bicara is a social project that facilitates people with mental Illness. It is expected that they will share and get motivated. Rizka’s presence in GES makes her sure to form social support campaign. Moreover, her project is welcomed warmly by Barack Obama who became her mentor in one section in GES.
Rizka said, “They really appreciate Teman Bicara project. They even said that I am a unique person because I am willing to do this”.
Furthermore, Rizka explained that there are many people in Indonesia need support from thrir social environment to solve their mental health problem. Unfortunately, there is a stigma that is believed by Indonesian people that people who go to see a psychologist have to be placed in different place. Rizka said, “They got rejection from their social environment. They hide their feelings and then become introvert. No one knows what happens to them”.
Rizka asks to stop bullying and not intimidate people with mental illness. To her, the majority of mental illness problems are caused by the social environment. They got no support and people stay away from them.
Rizka said, “I met people who suffer from mental illness. Most of them are caused by the social environment that does not aware and support them”. (lus)
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