BTS has consistently been a voice for mental health awareness. SUGA, especially, is a prime example of speaking out about mental health. To recognize BTS’ passion in promoting mental health, this month’s Fanbase Spotlight goes to the incredible ARMY Help Center, who has created a way for ARMY to gain support during times of emotional stress. While they are not a substitute for therapists or counselors, they aim to help ARMY who need someone to listen and give them an avenue to vent their concerns, stresses, and worries.
“Everyone has a story. Everyone has struggles. Not everyone has someone they can or want to confide in. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger on the internet than to someone ‘closer’ to you. We want to provide that listening ear,” Says Carla Postma-Slabbekoorn, one of the main admins at AHC. “Even though a lot of our volunteers are studying or have studied psychology, we are not providing therapy. Sometimes taking the step to talk to us, makes it easier for ARMY to take the step towards other help in their real life. Naturally not everyone who comes to speak to us needs that. The conversations we are having have a big range in terms of severeness.”
ARMY Help Center was first conceptualized in 2018, with its account opening in February of the same year. “Our founder saw that a lot of ARMYs were stressed. It was the beginning of 2018 and it was in the middle of voting-season which (among other things) caused a lot of ARMY to feel anxious and stressed. It was decided to form a small team of volunteers to provide a service for ARMY to talk to. It turned out a lot of ARMY wanted to use this service and the team grew rapidly.”
With over fifteen “daughter” accounts, each dedicated to a particular language, Carla notes that there are a large number of volunteers needed to run AHC. “Every daughter account has its own team with native speakers and a Head of Account who is the daily operations manager for that account. Every account falls under the same admin team. We have people responsible for the tweets, writers, graphic designers, etc.”
ARMY Help Centre also runs several projects on their project page, which opened in March 2019. The concept of the project account was to “[inform their] followers about mental health-related subjects.” Last month, in light of SUGA’s birthday, they collaborated with Bangtan Moonlight South Africa in a project called “Suga’s Healing Lab.” Questions directed ARMY throughout the month to contemplate their own mental health, to look at themselves and how they are feeling.
Previous projects also included
“BTS x AHC x Jung: A project about the work of Carl Jung, we collaborated with Dr. Murray Stein for this, the author of Map of the Soul, BTS ARMY Con. We [were] invited to be a part of BTS ARMY Con in Hollywood, LA. We couldn’t be there in person but we led a discussion via skype for Stress Awareness Week: Information about what stress is and what stressors are, Self Harm Awareness Day: Information about Self Harm and how to recognize behavior and providing some alternatives, AHC Indonesia partnered with Perhat! an event Art Exhibition for Mental Health by International Design School @ Galeri Indonesia Kaya [and we have also partnered] with Crisis Text Line.”
If you want to contact ARMY Help Center, you can do so through one of their accounts on Twitter or Instagram. “There are only certain volunteers who can acknowledge the incoming messages, we call them Mains, they will greet the ARMY and send them a disclaimer which states that we are here to listen but that we are not a substitute for a professional health care provider. After that, we will find them a volunteer (Speaker) who can talk to them in their own language. We mostly try to keep the same volunteer with that ARMY. Then we talk to them, listen to what they want to say or need to get off their chest.”
When asked what drives them to keep AHC open, despite how busy running the project can get, Carla responded admirably, “We care deeply about mental health. It should be normal to talk about your mental health but unfortunately, there still is a stigma surrounding it. As long as ARMY comes to us, confides in us, we will try to be here….ARMY, you are not alone. Everyone is fighting their own battle. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to sometimes not be okay. We purple you.”
If you would like to support ARMY Help Center they do have a Ko-Fi page, they aim to set up a website that will be the central point for information on mental health awareness.
In times like today, when mental health concerns are increasingly prevalent and the global situation continues to cause unease, it is a relief that ARMY can band together and support one another, whether that be through talking with a member of AHC, or sharing a positive message, lending an ear to those struggling.
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Written By: Caitlin
Edit By: Aury
Checked By: Euni