Page 15 - Berita Sunway - Issue 68

ANALYSIS Sunwayians share their thoughts with us!

Sunway University Break Up Exhibition

An avenue for emotional healing By Amirah Farhana
Abdul Fatah
he end of a relationship can be accompanying such experiences. body recognises how breakups could lead
Tcomplicated, distressing, and messy. In to psychological pain.
fact, studies have shown that it could also Individual stories of heartache were put
be physically depleting. After having spent on display during the exhibition, alongside The storytelling featured at the exhibition PEN & PAD
a period of your life with another person, a physical representation of the anecdote. allows individuals to tap into emotional
getting yourself out of the physical, mental From soft toys to handmade letters to experiences more deeply and clearly. It
and emotional frame that you’ve grown so a beer can, people from the community enables individuals to feel their emotions
familiar with can take a toll on your well- told their tales of heartbreak. Not only without judgements, process them and
being. Admittedly, healing can be quite a limited to romantic relationship breakups, reframe narratives of the experience in
process and it may not be a linear one. submissions also included stories on ways that promote resilience. We hope
friendships, broken families and even stories
these tearful yet optimistic accounts from
In efforts to building a community that on parting from one’s beloved furry friends. other individuals can act as a reassurance
recognises the normality of relationship for people to overcome the obstacles that
breakups, the Sunway University Titled the Breakup Exhibition 2.0, the they face in their personal journey.
Department of Psychology partnered with 2019 event attracted up to 2300 visitors,
its in-campus Psychology Club to establish a significant increase from the previous Whilst individuals have varying approaches
the Break Up Exhibition, the first ever year that saw 500 visitors. The encouraging to processing emotions, letting go
event of its kind in Malaysia. Inspired by response from the community opens up the by addressing your
the Museum of Broken Relationships in increasing possibility of candid and open internal narratives
Croatia, the platform, built for the local conversations on relationship breakups could be one that
community, shares stories of broken and its impact on psychological health. As serves you on your
relationships and the emotional turbulence advocates for mental health, the organising path towards
healing.
A Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Psychology student from Sunway University, Amirah Farhana is an
aspiring writer. Securing the reign as a recipient of Jeffrey Cheah Continuing Scholarship, she is also
experienced as a Research Assistant under Sunway University Department of Psychology, in addition
to the position as a team manager and editor for the Break Up Exhibition Book. With a passion for
raising community awareness, she values contributing dialogues in various social issues with the aim BERITA SUNWAY | APR—JUN 2020
of bringing about waves of changes in the community.

The Transformational Mr Saqib Sheikh is a certified coach, trainer, communication specialist
and social innovator. Saqib works with executive leaders to improve their
communication and team-building abilities to lead to transformational
Power of By Saqib Sheikh change in their organisational culture. He lectures on Media &
Communication at the Center for American Education, Sunway University.
COACHING Saqib is also the founder of several social enterprises, including Urban
Hijau, a sustainable urban farm showcase, and The Rohingya Project,
a grassroots initiative for financial inclusion of statesless people using

hen the word ‘coach’ comes up, we normally associate it Blockchain technology. He can be contacted at saqibs@sunway.edu.my.
to become a Certified People Coach.
Wwith the image of the voluble individual on the sidelines, At the beginning of my coaching journey, it was very important
directing the movement of players and instructing them on their to learn the distinction between coaching and other disciplines
specific techniques. Professional coaching has a much different such as counselling (which focuses on mental well-being) and
style though. Coaching is a process that aims to help people mentoring (which focuses on imparting skills through advice).
achieve their specific goals, with a focus on overcoming obstacles Coaching is primarily about improving performance and helps
to achieve results in terms of performance.
realise the latent possibilities in our life. In other words, coaching
At its core, coaching is about maximisng the God-given potential helps the coachee achieve the best results in their career, family
in each of us. Everyone at any stage of their life journey can find scenario or general life.
coaching useful, as the process of powerful questioning can On 17 February, I gave a talk on the ‘The Power of Coaching’ to
reveal aspects of ourselves that are beyond our normal levels of students from the Peer Counselling unit of Sunway University.
introspection. Our understanding of our potential comes through The idea was to introduce coaching as a practice for students to
exploration when we test our abilities and our own intuition. But consider in their personal and professional journey. I demonstrated
with coaching we are guided by a sounding board whom we can a couple of coaching tools which I use with clients, including
bounce our thoughts and insights on. The coach becomes the providing quick feedback to coachees and using a scaling system
channel through which we discover our inner capabilities.
to assess how close they are to achieving their goals. The students
As I experienced my own life transition in my mid-30s, personal showed a keen interest and actively participated in the proceedings.
self-development became more critical to me than ever before. I believe many of us are already performing coaching roles
I was fortunate enough to attend a one-day coaching introduction in the way we interact and assist people in our own circles.
workshop which was my first exposure to professional coaching. But understanding coaching as a discipline has the power to 15
Following that workshop, I went through the rigorous certification transform thinking and action in a truly positive way.
process under the International Coach Federation (ICF) guidelines

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