By Joshua L. //
In the heart of former Woodbridge Hospital on the 8th of September 2018, people from all over Singapore congregated for the same cause: mental health. Community partners, ambassadors, and members of the public gathered at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to celebrate its 90th anniversary. To mark this momentous shift in perceptions of mental health, the institute held its first-ever Mental Health Festival, in conjunction with the official launch of NCSS’s anti-stigma campaign, Beyond the Label. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the guest-of-honour and presented the opening speech.
This festival was meant to serve as a platform for Singaporeans to come forward to learn more about the true nature of mental health through an array of carnival booths set up by various mental health organisations, free workshops, and a series of talks, one of which I attended — “How To Overcome Stress and Anxiety”.
In the spirit of mental health being for everybody, Dr Joseph Leong, a psychiatrist and senior consultant in IMH, spoke about everyday ways that we can practise mental wellness. To further highlight how mental health is non-exclusive, he brought up stories of the late Prime Minister and President, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Wee Kim Wee. Using excerpts from their autobiographies, he illustrated how they, although not diagnosed with mental illnesses, were also affected by issues regarding mental health.
Be it Mr Lee’s flashbacks of his father holding him over a well by his ear, or Mr Wee’s departure from Malaya due to work stress, Dr Leong showed how mental health struggles can affect each of us in our own ways. This tied into the main message of his talk:
“We need not be ill in order to become well”.
This woke me up. With physical and mental health alike, when we’re unwell, we often focus our limited energy on recovering, yet we neglect maintaining wellness when we have it. Maybe it’s a matter of developing gratitude only when things have been lost or, perhaps, we simply prioritise other things when we are well.
Often, when I find myself in the midst of studies and work, I notice that I tend to say, “hold on, give me a while more.” Despite the fact that I’m a psychology student who (ironically) writes about mental wellness, I push back simple tasks like lunch or sleep, just to get in extra hours of work, leaving basic self-care in the background.
Whatever the case, Dr Leong’s words served a great reminder to myself and a lot of the audience that maintaining mental wellness is something is within our grasps.
We need to take a step back, re-evaluate our priorities and finally start practising mental wellness and self-care.
Start sticking to your meal times, start getting the right amount of sleep, start taking care of your mental wellness before you unknowingly let it slip through your fingers.
Overall, the Mental Health Festival 2018 fulfilled its purpose as the catalyst to turn the tides of mental health discrimination in Singapore, informing, inspiring, and institutionalising people and practices concerning mental health. Indeed, we hope to see more people seeking wellness in the days to come.
Joshua is passionate about mental health in Singapore. He believes that mental health education is important and should be made accessible to the community.
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2 responses to ““In Order To Become Well”: Reflections on Mental Health Festival 2018”
Can Schizoaffective disorder buy health insurance? I been rejected by 2 insurance company already.
Hi Carol, from our limited knowledge, there are few insurance agencies that provide coverage for mental health unfortunately, and those that do tend to do so on a case by case basis.