By Sheeda Fathil
SHAH ALAM, June 22 — More than 50,000 individuals have participated in the Selangor Mental Health Programme (Sehat) since it was launched in August last year through the SELangkah (Step In, Safely) mobile app.
According to its programme coordinator Dr Muhammad ‘Adil Zainal Abidin, out of the total, 40 per cent of the individuals suffers from low level of stress, 40 per cent experience mild stress level, and 20 per cent from extreme stress.
He said even though the country has moved into the transition to the endemic phase, some people still experience emotional stress, financial, employment and marital issues being the main causes.
“We highly encourage more people to take the screening test because it is important in establishing their degree of mental health..
“Getting screened does necessarily indicate that we have mental health issues, but prevention is better before it worsens,” he told SelangorKini.
With a budget of RM500,000, the state administration launched the Sehat programme on August 30 of last year to address the concerning mental health concerns that have emerged since the Covid-19 outbreak struck the nation.
Users of the SELangkah app can access the mental health screening test, risk assessment, psychoeducational videos, WhatsDoc portal, and the mental health literacy scale through the Sehat feature.
The feature also allows users to evaluate their mental health status through a stress self-screening
