Students use Facebook to educate others
The aim of the hour-long show, according to Daniel Yona, the final year communications student who acted as the traditional media officer, was to educate and remove the stigma about mental health in our society.
Monash South Africa students and followers of the institution’s Facebook page were left with a better understanding of how to deal with mentally ill people after a live streaming session.
The public relations third-year students facilitated a Facebook live streaming session in a talk-show set up to which they invited Margi King from Thandanani, an NPO that accommodates people with mental disabilities, as the globe celebrated World Mental Health Day on Wednesday, 10 October.
The aim of the hour-long show, according to Daniel Yona, the final year communications student who acted as the traditional media officer, was to educate the public and remove the stigma about mental health in our society.
Presenter of the live Facebook session, Alisha Mahmood, sat down with Margi, who spoke about her NPO, experiences dealing with mentally ill people and the reason to celebrate Mental Health Day. “World Mental Health Day is a day for global mental health education, awareness to the public and advocacy against social stigma,” she explained in the interview.
Alisha asked why it was important for Margi to celebrate the day personally. She said, “This day is meant to remind people with pyscho-social disorders and their families, friends and bosses that challenged people can do things. It is an opportunity to elevate onto the world stage, not just our country that people with a psycho-social disorder are ok – they can work. They are not doomed to be left to struggle,” Margi explained.
Margi also took questions from the audience and some of the questions that were popping in from the many viewers on social media. These were read by Russel Masuku, who acted as stakeholder relations officer.
The event management crew included Kefilwe Mathlaga, Darcelle Beukes and Alisha.
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