Abstract

Author:
Jane Tze Yn Lim, Zi Bin Teoh, Lai Fong Chan

Doi: 10.26480/mmhj.02.2025.73.77

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Ensuring mental well-being has become an important target for community wholeness. Despite our growing knowledge and scientific discovery, the core challenges such as mental health stigma remain a sad deterrent in progressive society. The work of advocacy began in the 1990s to encourage social integration and support mental health recovery. However, it is still unclear how such advocacy work would produce favorable outcome. Locally in Malaysia, a mental health advocacy event was conducted in a tertiary university hospital with collaborative efforts from mental health providers and multidisciplinary units of care. The highlights of the event were three public disclosure and sharing sessions; two by individuals with lived experience of mental illness and another by a psychiatric caregiver. The event ended with a showcase of patients’ various artworks done in the psychiatric rehabilitation unit. The impact of this advocacy work was experiential from the initial stage of planning to the delivery of content during the event, and thereafter as a catalyst to further improve in functional recovery. The therapeutic work and alliance were shared by different roles through guided reflection of the patients’ and caregiver’s journey in the content for sharing. The successful delivery of the advocacy event also foresees further empowerment of people with lived experience of psychiatric illness to step up as a critical role of voice to enhance community connections and encourage social integration. Furthermore, the importance and value of advocacy can be included in psychiatry training, clinical settings, self-help organizations, and peer-led communities in efforts to promote mental health recovery.