by Shalini Thevarajan, 25 December 2019 @ 4.00pm
PENANG: Stress Free Talk was an event organised by Kampus Sejahtera, held on 22nd November 2019 from 8.00pm to 10.30pm at DPS1, Kompleks Cahaya Siswa (BHEPA), USM. The talk was participatated by students from USM while it was conducted by a panel of speakers that also belonged to the community of USM. The motive of this event was clearly to disemmimate the knowledge about stress and the possible ways to handle it. Stress is a major downfall in the academics of students and sometimes even leads to death. Therefore, this event was vital in order to reduce stress issues in students of USM.
In the first segment of the talk, Dr Shazwany Binti Md Noor from Pusat Sejahtera, USM enlightened the students with information regarding stress. She explained in detail on the theoretical elements of stress such as the definition, experts point of view, statistics and ways to overcome it. It was interesting to hear her experiences dealing with stress and also meeting and helping patients with stress issues. One of the important point she highlighted to overcome stress is by talking it out to someone the students feel comfortable with or a third person like a counselor or a psychiatrist.
In the second segment of the talk, two other speakers, also from USM began to share their thoughts. Mr Yaganesh A/L Sukumaran, currently pursuing his masters in School of Social Science, USM and also holding a position in Students Council 2019/2020 and Mr Ahmad Naim Bin Mohamed Salleh, pursuing his degree in School of Social Science, USM and also a former exco of the Student Representative Council 2018/2019, were the speakers in the second segment. Students were able to relate more to the experiences shared by Mr Yaganesh and Mr Ahmad Naim, because they belong to the community of students in USM as well. It was helpful for the students to hear real life experiences and methods utilised by speakers to overcome their stress. It implemented a believe in the students that they can overcome stress too.
Towards the end of the talk, oppurtunity was given to students to direct their questions to the speakers. Quite a number of students came forward to clear their misunderstandings and doubts regarding stress and stress related topics. Rather than a quenstion and answer session it was more like a conversation between the panel and students which guided the students pretty well. Students felt good to have an open conversation about stress with professionals and other students who have experienced the circumstances of stress.
