In his remarks, EPKM Minister Rizqy Ananda explained, “This ministry helps ITB to facilitate a good mental health for every of its students. It is not a new thing that heavy college life burdens and many other things can influence our mental health and disrupt our life as a college student, a child, and a friend. Hopefully (with this ministry), everyone will realize that mental health can be supported with anything.”

Needs to access mental health companion resources are increasing during pandemic. However, many students did not know about counseling facilities in ITB. These two things are the background for this ministry to release EPKM Mental Health Resources.

Artha, Director General for EPKM Ministry Counselor explained several mental health facilities provided by ITB, such as ITB Guidance Counseling (BK) with psychologists which can be accessed through kemahasiswaan.itb.ac.id webpage, and Ganecare application. Ganecare is an application that could connect the user with a peer counselor to talk about their problem.

Ganecare comes with several peer counselor filters such as gender, class, and whether they are in the same major or not. It is intended for users who want their stories to be heard only by certain people who suit their needs. In addition, ITB students can also take advantage of counseling services at Bumi Medika Ganesha and ask for referrals to Melinda 2 Hospital. EPKM Ministry also shared psycho-educational content through @ganeshamentalcare Instagram account and provided a supporting link to fulfill psychological needs for ITB students. This link contains a lot of information starting from a list of clinics and hospitals that have mental health services in various cities in Indonesia, supporting websites and applications, communities that have an interest in this issue, as well as access and other facilities. This facility can be used by all ITB students at the link: linktr.ee/mentalhealthkesma

*Keluarga Mahasiswa Institut Teknologi Bandung (KM ITB), directly translated to Student Family, is a unity of ITB students in becoming a single student government.

Reporter: Ristania Putri Wahyudi (Matematika, 2019)
Translator: Aghisna Syifa Rahmani (TPB-SITHS, 2020)