By Effendi K. //
On 9 to 10 January 2018, a ground up social movement dedicated to heighten awareness of mental health issues among youths, CampusPSY (short for Peer Support for Youths) ran a series of escape room experiences titled, Jessica – Have you met her?
Inviting participants to find Jessica through a series of puzzles, time-trials and challenges, the event aimed to inform and educate escape-roomers about mental health and the value of peer support. Over two days, more than 350 participants were engaged through the hour-long ‘breakout’ session.
Participants are first ushered into Jessica’s room where they work against the clock to find clues that help them locate the missing Jessica. They soon find that Jessica’s scholarship application was rejected by the university scholarship committee while dealing with relationship problems involving an unrequited crush. As her world comes crashing down, participants enter the next room which is a tricky tapestry coloured with negative quotes and questions, sewn together in messy red threads. Reflecting Jessica’s disorganized mind, participants got an immersive taste of one’s journey into the abyss of darkness.
Upon exiting this room, participants are ushered to meet Jessica in her dormitory, where leftovers are strewn everywhere, cup noodles overturned in a dark enclosed space. Participants soon realize that Jessica has not left her room for ages. Social isolation is a common symptom for persons experiencing depressive symptoms.
Through conversations, participants got to understand what’s troubling Jessica and role play as a friend to someone in need of support. Some jump straight to the gun of asking about the presenting issues, others express concerns about her behaviour and some ask if she has suicidal ideation.
After meeting Jessica, participants are ushered to the final room for debrief. Participants shared their experiences and are encouraged to reflect on their own mental health as well as whether they have encountered someone lately who might be silently screaming out for help. This someone is arbitrarily named as Jessica.
We might all have met Jessica at one point in our lives. The question is what do we do, when we meet Jessica? Do we reach out, or do we walk away?
Finally, participants are led to the ground floor, where they engage in the activity “dear stranger” to exchange postcards with a stranger, where they reflect on “an instance of a difficult time” in their lives and their coping strategies. The postcards are printed with affirming captions like “you got this”, “pain is real and so is hope”, “life is tough but so are you”, and “take one step at a time”. It was a fitting takeaway for the participants.
Participants are then encouraged to learn more about the Singapore mental healthscape through interactive booths run by various community partners in the mental health sector: Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT), Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH), Silver Ribbon Singapore (SRS), Clarity Singapore, Over The Rainbow (OTR) and the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS). The event was made possible by Youth Corps Singapore (YCS) venue provision and National Youth Council Singapore (NYC) funding.
Earlier on 8 January 2018, a private walk-through event was hosted for media parties and the community partners. The event was graced by Guest-of-Honour, NYC’s first CEO, Mr David Chua. This was also attended by representatives from community partners as a strong show of support, namely–Mr Ong Kah Kuang, Executive Director of YCS; Ms Lee Yi Ping, Team Leader of CHAT; Ms Helen Yong, Assistant Director of SAMH; Mr Chow Yen-Lu, co-founder of OTR; Ms Christine Wong, Executive Director of SOS; Ms Porsche Poh, Executive Director of SRS; Mr Fred Cordeiro, Executive Director of Clarity Singapore; Ms Tan Yan Yan, Assistant Director of Service Planning and Development Group – Mental Health, National Council of Social Services and Ms Penny Chua, Assistant Director of Corporate Communications Department, Institute of Mental Health. The opening was covered by The Straits Times (An escape room to learn about depression).
NYC CEO Mr David Chua, affirmed the importance of youth mental health and see its as a critical area of concern. He believes that:
With better understanding of mental health issues, we can better empathise, accept people with these conditions into our circles and be inclusive not only in our behaviours and actions but also our actions. It is then that we can build a more inclusive and understanding Singapore.
All in all, Jessica – have you met her is a good example of mental health advocacy done innovatively, in an interactively fun fashion.
We might all have met Jessica, or may meet more Jessica(s) in our lives. What will you do, when you meet Jessica?