MyKolektif — New Mental Health Arts Initiative, Kuala Lumpur
What is Mental Health? A new Arts Initiative is making its way across Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne.
Art is a means of touching the human spirit. With art as an outlet, MyKolektif intends to open a channel to help you with expressing your inner most inhibitions, and to lead you on the road to recovery. Art Therapy is the angle and is a means of getting in touch with your deepest thoughts and inner most emotional cues.
A collective of people struggling with mental health issues, all using art to heal wounded souls, makes MYKolektif a support group for the soul.
“Commitment is only arbitrary for those who seek help,” say Tan Su Mei founder of MyKolektif and Art Therapist for the soul.
We are all peers here at MyKolektif, where Tan Su Mei believes commitment within each individuals members capacity to do so, appear at MYK meetings and submitting art works, can come together to talk and heal within a secure environment, sharing thoughts and emotions within a close knit circle of friends.
Part of the healing process is to feel free enough to open up to anxieties and sharing that which frightens you most. Your personal feelings are not at risk of being damaged here. This is a secure environment where the members of MyKolektif believe sharing is caring.
The group maintains a strict level of confidence and will never share anything outside of the confines of the therapeutic space, making for a secure space to begin the healing process.
With respect to members in terms of physical and emotional space all are meant to adhere to the same standards of practice.
There are, however, certain challenges that members of MyKolektif expect to face while opening up to their struggles, because facing mental health alone can be a daunting task, the circumstances require all those who participate to keep what is discussed within strict confidentiality.
Bias and Prejudice are not tolerated within this space and and all are expected to adhere to the same code of conduct while in therapeutic space. To be respectful of each others race, religion, gender, sexuality and other coping mechanisms, are all rudimentary in making the recovery process smooth and free of torrential constraints.
Finally, Mental Illness is not a disease and MyKolektif is not the cure. The group are a means of helping people think better, and to aid in the better understanding of how to function properly as human beings, in society and other shared spaces.
If you fall under these categories in whole or in part Art Therapy and MyKolektif might be right for you.
There is a lack of representation in the Malaysian society of creativity in mental health and much research as well as lived experience shows that all forms of art can be a healthy release for those experiencing mental health struggles. We need a healthy outlet to release our emotions and express ourselves and art is one of the ways we can do that. My Kolektif is a peer led arts collective made up of individuals facing mental health struggles who create art about OUR stories. It is a platform for artists with lived experience with mental health struggles or all forms to showcase their art works online. People who have a link with Malaysia are welcome to join the collective on the “connect” page of www.mykolektif.com and click “JOM”. Mari kita berseni!
