Valentine’s Day 2022 – loving ourselves first!

Today is Valentine’s Day! A day to celebrate with loved ones; a day to remember family and friends no longer with us; and most importantly perhaps a day to set aside time for ourselves. Being the Monday before our free monthly SGC-Whytehouse Early Childhood, it is also the day that I go on social media to remind everyone of our upcoming lecture by Dr Justine O’Hara-Gregan of University of Auckland. Her lecture this Saturday 19 February 2022 at 10am MYT focuses on practices for promoting teacher wellbeing – a topic that is most related to Valentine’s Day and self-love!

Research tells us that loving oneself, among others, paves the way to a positive mindset, an essential ingredient for success in life. Self-love is liberating and uplifting. It builds resilience to face adversities in life. It helps us develop healthier relationships.

According to The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, self-love is “a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth.” It covers:

• prioritizing ourselves & taking care of our own needs
• not sacrificing our wellbeing to please others
• not settling for less than what we deserve
• trusting ourselves; forgiving ourselves, accepting ourselves

Self-love is not a luxury, but a necessity. It is a choice that we make on how we view and treat ourselves. And we can clearly see the importance of self-love and wellbeing for early childhood professionals who engage with young children in their formative years when the foundation is laid for their sense of self and social wellbeing. In a profession that gives all the time, self-love and self-care can strengthen our mental wellbeing and help manage our stress. Our wellbeing affects others, especially those under our care.

Photo by Yan Krukov on Pexels.com

We can trawl through the web for the multitude of ideas on cultivating the habit of self-love : be it the practice of mindfulness and self care, listening to ourselves, journaling or yoga. Or why not join us on 19 February when Dr Justine O-Hara Gregan takes us on an interactive session on wellbeing practices for the early childhood community. Do you not agree that we need a break? That we need to recharge? Only then can we thrive! Register for our lecture at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/practices-for-promoting-teacher-wellbeing-tickets-251825646287

American historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist, and editor -Aberjhani once wrote ” “Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” So, this Valentine’s Day, take the bold step and love ourselves. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

 

Mental Health & Expressive Arts

On 4th February 2021, the Psychology team at SEGi College Subang Jaya launched the Arts Expression Exhibition project with the aim of encouraging people to express themselves through arts. In doing so, we wish to destigmatize mental health, rekindle connection and foster community support especially during this pandemic. This project is not competitive but rather seeking to generate awareness of the link between visual arts, singing, or dance with mental well being.

Members of the public, any age or background, are invited to share their creative art work in any artform together with a caption to express it. This is the link for the artwork submission:    https://qrgo.page.link/tUuJu The submitted artwork will be displayed on our instagram page @segieaem2021. Deadline for submission is on 14 March 2021. 

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

In conjunction with the exhibition, we have a webinar series featuring experts from the industry to provide their insights on the importance of self expression. The first webinar on 6th Feb featured Mr Andrew Ng, pioneer of Play and Art therapy in Malaysia. According to Mr Ng, art therapy is not about producing art masterpieces, it’s all about getting to know yourself better through the process of art-making. You don’t even have to be an artist to start off. Mr Ng’s session took us through the magic of art making – with case studies, and offered the participants a hands-on experience in visual arts expression. The session also allowed Mr Ng to offer some comments on some of the artwork that we did. Mr Ng’s live webinar was well received via the college facebook and youtube. If you missed the session catch it on: https://www.facebook.com/SEGiCollegeSJ/videos/2818681611727828

Coming up this weekend is another session – with art psychotherapist, Dana Kaarina. Her webinar will share how art-making allows us to explore feelings and emotions, bringing us on a journey of self-discovery. Join us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wP2TCaZQWM&ab_channel=SEGiCollegeSubangJaya or https://tinyurl.com/3abkswuy

 

Great Minds Campaign at SEGi College Subang Jaya

On 14 November 2019, SEGi College Subang Jaya had the distinguish pleasure of hosting the Great Minds Campaign, a Sime Darby Property initiative to create mental health awareness targeting children, youths and members of the public.

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The highlight of the Campaign was a Forum with the theme “Peer Support – Helping a Friend in Crisis”, which was well attended by students from our School of Psychology, all interested in how they could serve the college and community through peer support.

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Our thanks to the forum panelists – Puan Anita Abu Bakar, the President and Founder of Mental Illness Awareness & Support Association (MIASA), Nurhijjah Mat Zin (Counsellor, Malaysian Mental Health Association) and Mr Daniel Alan Anthony Percival. The forum was moderated by Aida Nurdiayana Adi Yazid from MIASA.

Students were visibly touched by the honest sharings by the panelists, and were keen to know what more that they could do to reach out and help their friends who are experiencing mental stress.

We are honoured that SEGi College Subang Jaya has been selected to be one of the hosts for this meaningful event.