Speed Dating Psychologists at The Kuaya
The Kuaya – as glamorous as it sounds is not hang out spot in KL. It’s actually a private mental health care facility in the heart of KL. The psychologists I “dated” are actually rendering their services there.
The National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022 revealed that 29.2% of Malaysian adults, equivalent to over 4.2 million individuals, are dealing with mental health problems.
Kuaya, being a Malaysian entity would be the perfect antidote in managing these issues. After all, it was created under the auspices of The Soke, a UK-based center launched in October 2020. In 2021, The Soke became the first center in its category to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, the national regulator of medical & social care services. It was recognized not just for the quality of its service, but for its strategic approach to developing easy to access assessment pathways so individuals and families could quickly access the most appropriate type and level of care.
How do you Speed Date Psychologists?
•There were a few psychologists stationed in different rooms. The situation was like a breakout room. A few of us are given 20 mins with any psychologist that we want to talk too and ask questions too. The questions can be anything about their work experience, their life as a psychologist, how they unwind at home and the cases that they dealt with. After the 20 minutes is up, someone will knock our door and we will change rooms.
My First Room – Couple Counselling by Joyce Hue
Joyce is actually an old friend of mine and we have interacted before. However, seeing her in action is something else. I always had the notion that couple counselling actually helps to improve marriages.
The Reality:
• Couple counselling just gives you clarity on what you want from a marriage or if you want to continue with the marriage. It does not save marriage.
• The largest cause of friction in a couple right now is unplanned pregnancy and marrying each other to save the family reputation. Many times, despite this particular couple living together for years, somehow after marriage, many of them realize they are incompatible.
• Date nights are encouraged but most people are lazy to go on dates. Cause there is no wooing involved. Dates are encouraged as it revives the spark in a relationship.
My Second Room – Menopause & Perimenopause by Dr. Diana Dollah
Not many are aware that women who are stepping into menopause and perimenopause actually suffer symptoms like brain fog or poor memory. Also, sometimes they have imposter syndrome where they do not know who they are anymore.
Coincidentally, one of the girls in my room was actually doing a study on high functioning autism and masking.
The Reality:
•Ladies mask very well. Many high functioning autisms go unnoticed as they tend to be quiet. Also, they have been reprimanded many times because they do not know how to read the room.
•But when menopause hits, they suddenly cannot hold their mask together
•Many suffer from sleep disturbances and this affects their cognitive ability
•A lot of them gain weight because of hormone disbalance
Third Room –Addiction by Ashwin Thind
Ashwin is far from those typical old psychologists who are boring and long-winded. He is bubbly, vibrant and has that Rastafarian vibe. He also has got a couple of Greek tattoos that have an interesting background story.
My Takeback from his session
•Dr Thind’s research is focused on cam sex and substance abuse. Most people use drugs to get a certain high in these sessions.
•Drugs are easily available but you need to know some insider contacts
•We have always been a highly sexual society as we have to procreate to enhance the next generation. However, many have misused sex for favors and misconstrued it for love.
•Porn and sex are not considered an addiction but it gets detrimental when it affects relationships around.
•Why do many people change relationships often? Women seek intimacy and men seek validation and having these two types coming together actually makes the hormones fly. But the same kind of high leads to the same kind of crash. Another name for this kind of relationships are toxic relationships
Final Round – Family Counselling by Ang Wen Fang
Wen Fang actually assists with the refugee clinic in Jalan Pudu and she shared everything about the patients that she sees there. She mentioned that the refugee’s queue up as early as 4pm just to see the healthcare professionals. They also have mental health clinics there for the refugees to seek assistance. Many of them have PTSD as they come from war-torn countries. Some of the common countries they come from are Afghanistan, Burma and Pakistan. She also shared on the many issues they face in this country as UNHCR card holders.
All in all, these was a truly enlightening session, and I never knew that there were so many different types of psychologists to cater to the myriad human issues that we have.
