Mental health is no joke and H.H. Sayyida Basma Al Said is committed to changing the world’s preconceived notions about mental wellness.
In honor of World Mental Health Day, Her Highness and her team from Whispers of Serenity Clinic hosted “Not Alone: Young Minds Mental Health Forum” this past weekend in Muscat, Oman.
The overall purpose of the forum was to spread awareness about mental health in Oman in a creative way and to give both children and adults the opportunity to interact and discuss mental health-related issues.
“Telling stories about mental health is very important because it gets to the heart quicker than if one uses statistics and numbers,” H.H. Sayyida Basma Al Said said to Time Out Muscat.
She also said her and her team were keen to host the event this year with childrens’ mental health in mind “. . . because we always think about kids as if they don’t know how to express [what’s wrong], ‘they don’t have issues, they’re kids – what would be their problem?”
In addition to discussing topics in mental health, all proceeds from the tickets sold yesterday will be donated to a charity that supports cancer patients and their families.
Her Highness will also be launching a coffee table book in November 2019, in collaboration with the well-known London-based fashion photographer Rankin, to share real life stories about mental health.
She hopes the book will help people and business understand why we need to reset our attitudes towards mental health, wellbeing and resilience in the workplace.
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Photo credit: Rankin.