During 2001- 2003, common mental disorders are prevalent in 14.9% of the Vietnamese population. According to WHO statistics, the rate of people treated in outpatient facilities rose from 56.9 users per 100,000 populations in 2005 to 370.57 users per 100,000 populations in 2011. However, there is only 1.01 psychiatrist per 100,000 populations while the ratio for clinical psychologist is 0.03. In Vietnam, mental health has not received proper attention while human resources are not only scarce but also insufficiently trained. On the other hands, factors including social unawareness and social stigma against mental disorders have increased the pressure for patients. Many patients and their families associate mental disorders with spiritual or holy causes that subsequently leads to delay in treatment. People with mental disorders even feel too ashamed and scared to confide in any one because of prejudice and stigma.
Within this context, Beautiful Mind Vietnam was founded to promote public knowledge and awareness about mental health and provide free support for people with mental concerns. We are a group of young people with various background with the core team specializing in psychology, counselling, mental health, biomedicine and pharmacology. We also receive advice and consultation from professional psychologists and psychiatrists.
There are three components in our operation:
Improving knowledge and awareness: by translating and writing high quality and reliable articles about mental health, mental disorders and related issues that are relevant to Vietnamese context.
Providing free online peer counselling: We act as a first- point help for people with concerns about mental health before advising them for specialised treatments. We also offer a place for people to confide in and share their stories using the principles of non- judgement, sympathy and empathy.
Organising workshops and seminars: We plan to organise free workshops and seminars for the local community to increase knowledge about mental health and promote healthy- mind practice such as meditation.
- After half a year in operation, BMVN reaches 20394 followers on facebook and more than 1 million views on its main website.
- Beautiful Mind VN has written and translated more than 85 high- quality articles that had been carefully reviewed, proofread and edit.
- BMVN has provided free support for more than 600 cases of common mental disorders and cases with mental problems resulted from daily issues such as domestic abuse, relationship stress, career and study stress and so on.
- We had successfully held one workshop about mindfulness and stress management in Ho Chi Minh City last February. We are currently preparing for free workshops and exhibition about mental health in Hanoi this 2016 summer.
- We are currently collaborating with another psychology- related project called EzPsychology to write a bilingual book called “Abnormal Psychology” (English- Vietnamese). This is a part of a 5- book series by EzPsychology with the aim to promote the knowledge of psychology to Vietnamese readers.
84A 84A Quan Thanh, Ward , Ba Đình, Ha Noi
1. LINVN.ORG
2. Phi Lợi Nhuận (philoinhuan.org) (Non- profit organisation network)
3. VIETNAMCAUSES.ORG
4. ĐÔ TĂNG (artwork)
5. Sloegin Workshop – Bi Trố (artwork)
6. Art of Mai (artwork)
7. Been There Done That (photo)
8. Tâm lý học tội phạm (content) (Criminal Psychology)
9. Ngưng Ngược Đãi (content/PR) (Stop bullying)
