Mobile Mental Health Service now ply the streets of the capital Jakarta three days a week. (IRIN)
Jakarta - Viviana Sari, an Indonesian high school student, was at a loss for words when psychiatrist Tiur Sihombing asked her to define the word “depression”.
“Stressed?” the 17-year-old said hesitantly.
Viviana was among more than two dozen students at Jakarta’s state-run High School No. 70 taking part in a recent counselling session conducted by a team from the Mobile Mental Health Service, a joint government and NGO initiative aimed at improving mental health in the country.
aunched in July, two blue buses emblazoned with the sign Mobile Mental Health Service now ply the streets of the capital Jakarta three days a week, making stops in schools and other public places to provide free mental health services, including counselling, treatment and education.
Each mobile clinic is staffed by a psychiatrist, a general practitioner, two psychologists and a nurse.
The pilot project - the brainchild of the Indonesian Health Ministry, the Metaforma Institute, a local NGO, and the Jakarta Health Department - aims to promote mental health care amid widespread ignorance about the scourge.
Category(s):Mental Health in Asia
Source material from IRIN
