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Recognising exemplary commitment to community service, Sharrada Segeran is honoured as this year’s 2023 ANU Student Volunteer of the Year (Postgraduate) for her substantial work establishing the Mind Matters Network and increasing mental health literacy in Malaysia.

 

It was the peak of Covid in Malaysia, mental health struggles and suicide among youth in the country were rampant yet there was a gap in services. There wasn’t a platform focused on youth, so Sharrada worked to fill that gap, co-founding a non-for-profit in Malaysia called Mind Matters Network. A network led by the youth, for the youth, with the youth, guided by professionals.

 

Since then, Sharrada has focused her volunteer efforts on increasing mental health literacy in Malaysia through this youth-led network. Starting by tackling the cultural negativity and stigmas surrounding mental health struggles which act as a barrier to seeking help through programs to improve mental health literacy in the country’s youth. As part of this, Sharrada co-authored the first Handbook on Youth Mental Health in Malaysia written from three perspectives – a psychiatrist, a newly graduated doctor and a student. Within its first month of publication 2,000 copies were distributed for free, while the network also led information sessions at local schools to further increase youth mental health literacy.

 

With increased momentum and volunteer engagements, the networks regular programs have extended to free mental health exhibitions and subsidised art therapy sessions, eventually spanning 22 initiatives within the first year, reaching all 14 states and 2,445 total participants. 

 

“For someone who is hoping to make a positive change, I would say, just go and do it! Change is not about making huge headlines. Sometimes it is just about doing that one small thing for a person... All of us have got the potential to make change.”