Mental health has now become a widely discussed issue among Generation Z. With the widespread circulation of these issues, many from Generation Z are self-diagnosing based on the prevalent signs of mental disorders. In an effort to address this issue, UGM students innovated a Mental Health Consultation Platform with a Group Mentoring Approach. This platform was innovated by Adam Satria Buana (Faculty of Geography 2020) and Sekar Alya Maharani (Faculty of Biology 2021).
<br
This innovation was submitted to the Next Gen Entrepreneur Competition (NGEC) 2023 held by the Faculty of Industrial Technology at Ahmad Dahlan University on July 22, 2023 with the theme “Stand Out With Your Innovative Business Plan as a Future Entrepreneur” prompted both students to innovate and present a creative idea involving the development of a mental health consultation application using a group mentoring approach. The team successfully secured 3rd place among a total of 10 Grand Finalist teams representing both public and private universities in Indonesia.
Mental health issues are increasingly being discussed by the public, especially among Generation Z teenagers. According to Annury et al. in 2021, it was found that 24.80% of a total of 100 high school Generation Z teenagers across Indonesia engaged in self-diagnosis. One of the indicators is the Generation Z’s inclination toward trending topics, leading to a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) particularly regarding current mental health discussions. Self-diagnosis is a situation where an individual assumes health issues and self-identifies as having a mental disorder without professional assistance (Kaligis, 2021). This can impact an increasing level of anxiety within the individual.
The created platform is a web application named TEMU GEN-Z, which stands for Teman CeritaMU Generasi Z (Your Generation Z Story Buddy). This name was formulated because addressing mental health issues can begin with consultations involving storytelling about the challenges one faces. TEMU GEN-Z provides a personalized touch through monitoring within discussion groups. This web application serves as a mental health support system, featuring consultation services, psychological tests, discussion groups, medication services, and #Let’sTalk content. TEMU GEN-Z has a logo symbolizing a liberated soul without internal disturbances.