Caring for yourself means caring for your mental health

Over the past year, two educators saw first-hand teachers and students struggling with remote learning, isolation and a multitude of other challenges. They decided to band together to create a unique workshop that combined psychology and performing arts practices with the aim of helping people improve their mental health.

Pick up some tips to improve your mental health in The Actors Studio Academy @ klpac’s workshop “S.O.S! Merging Psychological and Dramatic Techniques To Manage Mental Health Issues'' by Taylor’s University’s Pang Chia Yee and Mark Beau de Silva on 21 August 2021 which is also part of klpac’s #savethearts campaign.

“Everyone deserves to have a healthy state of mind but it is something you may have to work on and invest in just like exercising or understanding how your frame of mind works. Mental health issues do not discriminate. Whether you are an educator, student, parent caring for a young child or someone living alone, we understand that times could be really tough so it is important that you're kind to yourself and your mental health because #youmatter,” said Pang Chia Yee, Taylor’s University’ Bachelor of Psychology Lecturer.

“While we were teaching online, we saw many students feeling isolated and stressed. They were dealing with issues they needed to talk about. With the worsening cases and extended period of isolation, more people are feeling it – not just educators or students. So we thought why not combine our expertise and see if we can be of some help,” added Mark Beau de Silva, Senior Lecturer of TUTAS’ Bachelor of Performing Arts programme under Taylor’s University.

With the lack of face-to-face interaction and on-going uncertainties, feelings of stress, anxiety and depression is not uncommon. Much like how you do some stretching and exercises in the morning, doing simple things to care for your mental health is equally-important as part of your self-care regimen. But how?

In this upcoming workshop, Pang will show you how to identify emotional and mental stress while De Silva will teach you simple exercises that are used in performing arts to help you cope with these negative feelings and express yourself better.

The workshop on 21 August will be held from 10am to 12pm via Zoom. The fee is RM50 with a 50% discount for students. All proceeds will be channelled to klpac’s Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund to help keep klpac afloat during their prolonged shut down. You may register via http://bit.ly/tasa_registration.

With over 10 years of experience, Pang holds a Masters of Arts (Counselling) from University of Nottingham and is currently a Psychology lecturer, researcher as well as therapist. Her expertise includes gender studies, personal development, sexuality, relationships, mental health, resilience and counselling.

De Silva is well-known in the performing arts circle as a prolific and award-winning writer and director with two decades of experience. Many may not know that he is also a passionate educator.

This upcoming workshop is part of Taylor’s University School of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Outreach Programme to #savethearts and assist communities and industry partners during the pandemic. Earlier, de Silva conducted another workshop “How to Teach Creatively Online” attended by almost 100 teachers nationwide. 122 theatre lovers were also wowed by a creative Zoom performance “Once Everything’s Done, I Just Wanna Go For a Run'' by 13 TUTAS Bachelor of Performing Arts students. It was “a moving piece that paints the hardships and inner turmoils everyone is experiencing,” said TUTAS student Nicholas Lai.

More information on the workshop can be found here https://www.klpac.org/tas-academy-klpac/ or email [email protected]. 

This content is provided by The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.

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