Writing a Staff Guide on student’s mental wellbeing
Writing a Staff Guide on student’s mental wellbeing
Mohamed Noohu Nazreen Banu’s Story
Faculty of Social Sciences
BSocSc
Nazreen is a final year student pursuing a double major in psychology and counselling. She is a second-generation Indian born and raised in Hong Kong. In the previous semester, Nazreen worked with CEDARS-CoPE to prepare a Staff Guide on mental health, for which she received very positive feedback.
Nazreen was recommended to join CEDARS-CoPE in developing a guide for faculty and administrative staff. She contributed unique perspectives as the only student on this project. Mental health ailments often go undetected, unlike medical health symptoms that are more visible. “It is important to deal with mental health issues immediately,” says Nazreen, “or it may grow into depression or chronic anxiety.” Sometimes tutors may be aware of students facing mental challenges, but they might not go the extra mile since their expertise is not in counselling - the Staff Guide empowers them to help students overcome such problems.
“Mental health is fragile but powerful if you care for it right.”
While working on the Staff Guide project, Nazreen was able to draw from her own academic experience completing her counselling capstone. “Mental health is fragile but powerful if you care for it right,” Nazreen seeks to spread awareness to families on parenting as the next step. In the future, she hopes to become a therapist and connect to people on a deeper level.
Finally, Nazreen implores her fellow schoolmates to pay attention to the mental health of the people around them: “You don’t have to be a licensed counsellor or know all the jargons in psychology; if your close ones are feeling a bit down, just hearing them out could already help a lot. You don’t have to come up with solutions, being there for someone already makes a huge difference.”
Written by:
Truston Yu
Year 4, Faculty of Social Science
March 2021