Dopamination, which consisted of various events UGM Psychology held to commemorate Mental Health Day and mental health awareness have now ended, with the concert night called Sharing with Others (SWO) on Friday, November 2, 2018. Aditya Putra Utama, the Head Officer for Dopamination, explained that SWO is the peak of all the events, after they have successfully held campaigns for mental health, such as a social media-based online campaign through info graphics and also touring faculties in UGM, through their program called Tour de Faculty, where they aim to increase mental health awareness and literacy among UGM students. Other parts of their incredible efforts also included holding a seminar called CEKER and providing free counseling through CURCOL.
SWO started from 3 p.m. in UGM’s PKKH building. The theme was ‘Heart and Mind’ and the tagline was ‘Give The Heart Through The Art, Make The World Full of Act’. As with the other programs they’ve held, SWO stayed true to the goal of Dopamination, which is to be a platform for psychoeducation using art as a media. SWO packed materials of psychology and mental health with a unique way, by creating a sort of festival that consists of a mini art exhibition, community booths, food stalls, and of course, live music. It is made this way so that the public can learn about psychology and mental health, as well as reconnecting people with the realities of the world around them.
“SWO is like the complete package so that people who want to learn about mental health issues can also enjoy music while learning. Through the art exhibition, community stands, and the live music, we want to bring the best experience for people to understand mental health and mental illness. The booths also have unique activities. One of them is Box of Depression, designed so that people can understand the importance of being there for people with depression and have the gist of what depression is like,” said Aditya. He also said that the mini art exhibition has pieces such as Reflection, Public Diary, and Emotion Collage.
The community booths were booths for Youth Empowerment Studio, Bipolar Care Indonesia, Puisi Seketika, Museum Anak Kolong Tangga, Werkudara Institute, Komunitas Peduli Skizofrenia Indonesia, UKM Peduli Difabel UGM, and Yayasan Kawan Berbagi. Each booth in SWO has its own purpose. Museum Anak Kolong showcased various nostalgic traditional children’s games, and Puisi Seketika gave visitors poetry to bring home. The musical talents were Diskopantera, Illona and The Soul Project, Jono Terbakar, and Schizo Friends. “SWO marks the closing of 2018’s Dopamination. Its aim is to give a sweet ending to this campaign. We targeted 1000 people to attend, and hopefully later in the evening there will be even more people. We even have on the spot ticket counters for people who want to join. We hope that SWO can make people more aware about the importance of mental health, regardless of their backgrounds,” said Monica Mega, the Coordinator for SWO.
Aditya added, “This event was born from the vision to develop a caring attitude towards other people. We see people gaining understanding of this topic more and more by being here, and we see that many people are learning new things. I am in awe with the public’s reaction, because it turns out that so many of them really care, even if they do not know ‘how’ to show it yet. We want to give knowledge and promote caring, and hopefully, Dopamination can help shape a more positive environment. We also hope that UGM Psychology can continue to facilitate creative ideas like this in promoting psychology and mental health to the public.”