Minister: Family Conversations Key to Tackling Mental Health Issues

Minister of Population and Family Development and Head of the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) Wihaji has stated that chatting or having discussions with family and taking a break from gadgets is one of the keys to tackling mental health issues. “Parents should more frequently invite their children to talk, discuss, and build good communication because that is the key to maintaining children’s mental health. Furthermore, I remind everyone again that technology should be utilised to help human life, not the other way around where humans end up serving technology,” he said. This was conveyed during a discussion with the Mayor of Yogyakarta to commemorate the 33rd National Family Day in Yogyakarta on Friday. He stressed that handling mental health requires collaboration from all parties, including the central government, local governments, health workers, community leaders, parents, and children themselves. “The government acknowledges that mental health issues are a very serious problem. Therefore, we hope the campaign on the importance of preparing the future generation will continue to be strengthened,” he said. Wihaji noted that Yogyakarta is a highly plural region and serves as a miniature Indonesia. This condition makes Yogyakarta a good place for learning, including in handling mental health issues. “We continue to emphasise the importance of communication within the family, and Yogyakarta is expected to be the starting point for strengthening the mental health campaign,” he explained. Meanwhile, Mayor of Yogyakarta Hasto Wardoyo stated his readiness to follow up on the Minister’s directives by strengthening the mental health disorder screening system in schools, followed by tiered referrals to community health centres and hospitals. “The City of Yogyakarta already has an Adolescent Health Centre at the hospital as part of youth health services. The high number of mental disorder cases and environmental influences (toxic people) is related to the high diversity of the community in Yogyakarta,” said Hasto. He expressed hope that the Special Region of Yogyakarta could become a national example in mental health management, not just in terms of the number of cases, but through its effective handling system.