JEDDAH: What started as a club to tackle mental health issues and spread awareness at Effat University has transformed into a full-fledged support system for students and others alike.
WeCare began as an idea to continue educating the community about issues regarding mental illness, and battle the stigma surrounding it. The initiative’s goal is to provide individuals who are suffering with a safety net. The message is clear: You don’t have to suffer alone and alienate yourself. The team behind it is utilizing social media as their main platform to help spread the message.
Aya Alzubi, a psychology major in her first semester at Effat, told Arab News about how they started working on the club to normalize the issue to continue work by many regional groups raising awareness.
Alzubi said that the group uploads 3-6 times a week on their Instagram page, tackling one issue after another, in in-depth details.
The brainchild behind the club, Ghaliya Zaneb, boldly described her struggles to Arab News.
“I started to notice there was something wrong with me in my first semester at the university, I did not realize I could completely be at the mercy of my own emotions. After constantly telling myself that I needed to be strict with myself, I sought the help of a psychiatrist and after several visits, I was diagnosed. It opened the doors for me to understand my condition better,” she said, describing her struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety.
She defined the constant battle of self-doubt that people with disorders go through, saying she “shut down” and went through her studies with great difficulty. She initially didn’t think it might be an issue, and that she was simply being weak and needed more self-discipline in her studies.
Zaneb said that she spent the majority of this semester recruiting passionate members and still discovering ways in which they can spread awareness.
“Now we have a presence to make a difference. I met some truly passionate people who are willing to continue spreading awareness long after we graduate, as we are not confined to university walls, social media plays a major role in our time. It’s the age of social media, we’re using it wisely. I am very grateful and proud of them.”
Alzubi, the current head of the initiative, said: “One of the biggest challenges we have been facing stems from the problem that we are still a small university-based club. We do not get enough funding to go through with the big dreams that we have.”
The members of the group are hoping to see this initiative make a wide scale change throughout the Middle East, a promising dream: “To drown out the whispers of negativity and the looks of shame when someone is known to suffer from a mental illness.”
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