Scholarship / Chevening - Teacher from Indonesia [3]

Leadership Experiences
Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership.

When I was a teacher at an elementary school in Indonesia, I often saw fellow teachers at other schools uploading videos about their school activities. Seeing these videos, I immediately thought that in addition to documenting activities for parents, they could also be used as school promotional materials, informing others about our activities, the facilities we provide, and the interactions between teachers and students.
Because I was relatively new to the school, I felt uncomfortable directly suggesting that the school promote itself in this way. Eventually, I, who initially enjoyed storing student videos and photos in my phone gallery, began making videos about our activities. I followed the principle of starting with myself, before inviting or influencing others to do so.
After that, I began uploading the video to my social media accounts. I did this several times, until fellow teachers and other members of the management team began to take notice. They then began experimenting with similar projects and occasionally contacted me for suggestions on apps, songs, or other elements to complement the videos.
One day, a member of the school's management team brought it up in a weekly meeting. He encouraged other teachers to start making simple videos about their learning activities at school. He echoed my initial thoughts that this could be an engaging promotional tool for the school. From there, more and more teachers began making simple videos and sharing them on social media and parent groups. Parents, in turn, shared videos of their children's activities, indirectly helping promote our school.
Through this experience, I've increasingly realized that leadership can be exercised in various ways, depending on our goals and position. In this case, even though I was a beginner and didn't directly convey my ideas, I was still able to influence them through my actions.

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Scholarship / Mental health in Indonesia - Chevening - Career Plan and Impact [3]

What impact do you intend to make in your home country or region?

Currently, mental health services in Indonesia are limited and not equally accessible to all groups. This is due to the limited number of professionals, the relatively high cost of services, and the low budget for mental health care. Seeing the disparity between increasing public awareness and inadequate services, I hope to become a professional who can provide services in various aspects, from promotive, preventive, and curative.
In the next 1-5 years, I will focus on deepening my expertise in psychology and mental health. One way of doing this is through the opportunity to study for a master's degree in the UK. I will use this opportunity to learn how to conduct appropriate assessments, how to provide targeted and impactful treatments, and understand how UK social policies and programs can provide adequate services for all levels of society. Furthermore, I plan to build a cross-border professional network in various fields relevant to my interests.
In the next 5-10 years, I plan to collaborate with RPTRA (Ruang Publik Terpadu Ramah Anak) and local schools to provide psychoeducation on mental health and the importance of psychological aspects in child development, as well as provide preventative and curative psychological services at these institutions.
I also hope this collaboration can be extended to nearby hospitals and healthcare institutions, so that mental health services will be accessible not only in one setting but also in other areas.
Related to this, if the NHS has previously visited Indonesia to discuss stroke management, I hope that in the future, I can pave the way for Indonesia to also collaborate with the NHS on systematic and accessible mental health services for many parties. Through this, it is hoped that Indonesia can learn many positive lessons about public health services, and the relationship between the two countries can also be strengthened.

Scholarship / Looking for Volunteer Friends - Chevening - Relationship Buildings [2]

Tell us about a professional relationship you have built and maintained.

At the end of 2019, the spiritual community I belong to at my faculty planned to hold an IMFEST, or community anniversary celebration. This celebration would include providing social assistance in the form of basic necessities and free health checks to residents. I served as a member of the events division, responsible for organizing the program and ensuring that the needs of each event were met.
Regarding the free health checks, the committee had previously considered several institutions with whom we could collaborate. However, after submitting proposals, these institutions were unable to participate due to various reasons, such as the location not being aligned with their service focus, a lack of medical equipment, and the additional costs involved.
I then remembered a friend from the medical faculty who was also participating in a volunteer program in the university's education sector with me. Seeing her medical background and volunteer spirit, I contacted her for assistance. She agreed and volunteered to bring several of her friends to help with the event. The day before the event, she also accompanied me in sourcing the necessary medical equipment for the event.
The following day, the event went smoothly, with 100 beneficiaries in attendance. The assistance from our medical friends played a significant role in making the free healthcare service a success. Besides helping the event run smoothly, it also helped expand the volunteer network within each faculty.
To this day, I still maintain a good relationship with that friend through social media and see her ongoing volunteer work. I've realized that building relationships isn't just about making new friends, but also about nurturing existing ones over time. When I study in the UK, I hope to participate in volunteer activities there, too, with the goal of sharing how volunteering works in other parts of the world, adapting what I've learned to volunteer in Indonesia, and even collaborating with Chevening members and other emerging networks to implement impactful volunteer opportunities elsewhere.