Part IV Engineering student raises importance of wellbeing awareness
2 July 2019
Naa-Eun Kim’s personal experiences led to a desire to raise mental health awareness in her fellow students.
While completing her degree, Naa-Eun developed a chronic pain illness which began to impact her mental health. Despite being aware of the name of her chronic pain illness, it wasn’t until her final year of study when Naa-Eun discovered she also had depression, so she shifted to part-time study in an effort to look after herself. Until then, Naa-Eun didn’t realise there might be a name for what she was experiencing, and wondered how many other students could be feeling the same.
“Being a person who is passionate about leadership and influencing, I was determined to voice it and let as many people know that I could,” Naa-Eun said. “I thought doing a research project, and getting students involved themselves could be a good way to advocate and just to get the idea rolling in people's heads.”
Naa-Eun initially wanted her Part IV Project to focus on mental health in the Engineering industry, but her lecturer suggested that she frame it around current students instead, which supported her goal of raising awareness among her peers. The Department of Civil Engineering supported her desire to do the project by herself and in conjunction with a supervisor from Psychology.
“Some people are unaware of the effects of mental health, so even if their friends are going through it, even if they wanted to be supportive, they just don't have much awareness or knowledge about what to do,” Naa-Eun said.
“I really wanted to change the stigma around mental health in New Zealand, even just on this scale.”
Last year the Auckland University Engineering Society (AUES) ran a wellness week to encourage students to think about their mental wellbeing, which Naa-Eun believes was the kind of thing that can be helpful to students when they’re feeling under pressure.
“The mental health awareness week was really great and I'm really appreciative the AUES took part in it. For people to have that mental rest, even that short time hanging out with the puppies, or enjoying the free ice cream, that is really beneficial.”
Naa-Eun would love for her research to be the first step in a research journey that is picked up by students from other specialisations within Engineering. She believes that putting aside the technical elements of Engineering study for a moment to focus on the human aspect can be refreshing and offers new perspectives.
To follow Naa-Eun's journey and read more about her project, head to her blog.