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Peer Support & Solidarity: Celebrating Mental Health Resilience in Migrant Communities
By Kelly Ng // In 2015, Omar Faruque Shipon started the Facebook page Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore as a personal repository for stories of fellow migrants working far away from home. Five years on, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, his page has become a precious lifeline for the Bangladeshi community in Singapore,…
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De-Stigmatising Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation: Charlynn’s Story
By Charlynn T. // “Did you do this for attention?” I had not prepared an answer to that question. Paralysed with fear, I stared blankly at my parents, praying they would drop the topic and just dismiss the issue. That was the day they discovered I was self-harming. I’m not sure how it started. I…
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Beware the myth of the creative ‘mad-genius’: More to art than insanity
By Kelly Ng // From how German composer Robert Schumann supposedly achieved superhuman productivity during his manic periods, to what’s been dubbed the “Sylvia Plath effect” – which tries to establish a link between creatives and mental illness based on the life and death of the depressed poem – the theory that creative people are…
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Dancing to the Beat of Depression and Anxiety: Q. Anuradha’s Story
By Q. Anuradha // I’m a dancer. Because my body is looking for cues to guide its movement, I pay more attention to the underlying beat in a piece of music than the average person. Music with a steady beat is easier to move to, the patterns easier to anticipate. But what happens when you…
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The Struggle for Self-Compassion: Karen’s Story
By Karen Zainal // A few months ago, I turned 29. I’m embarrassed to admit that it bothered me a great deal. If you’re older than I am, I forgive you for rolling your eyes. As for those of you around my age, I hear your nervous chuckle! We often hear the assertion that age…
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Taxi Conversations: Aznet’s Story
By Aznet T. // When you’re in a taxi, do you make conversation? Lately I’ve been steering topics toward mental health. I might talk about how a mental health social agency trained and matched me to a job: “They helped me for free! I hadn’t worked for five years. They taught me and gave me…
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Not Alone in the End: Interview With An “End-of-Life” Doula
By The Tapestry Project SG // Some may find that talking about end-of-life care isn’t “auspicious”, but we think it’s apt because life is about living well, leaving well and human connection. In this piece, we chat with Joanne, an end-of-life doula, who is part of the “No One Dies Alone”, a programme in which…
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Pandemic Parenting with Peppa Pig: Charmaine’s Story
By Charmaine Toh // Today was a good day. I maintained my most controlled IG-perfect mommy stance when my freshly-minted four-year-old, C, threw her daily tantrum. Typically, this is a colourful display of short chubby legs scissoring furiously in the air, arms flailing, and her little pre-schooler voice whining, “mooommyyyy but whhhyyyy?”. I’d firmly said…
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Add Enchantment to Your Everyday Homebound Life: Eliza’s Story
By Eliza Thomas // Many of us are dealing with the effects of social isolation and distancing during this COVID-19 crisis. Some of us have had it harder and are slipping into depressive states, especially when things are compounded with family and workplace stresses or, worse, unemployment and cash flow fears. What if we took…
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Recovery is Possible: Alvin’s Story
By Alvin Chew // Since young, I was quite academically inclined. I did well for both my ‘O’ Levels and ‘A’ Levels. My good results in the 1987 ‘A’ Levels earned me the Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship to read Mathematics and Physics in NUS. I was supposed to become a teacher. However, during my…
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Meaningful Time Management During COVID-19: Paula’s Story
By Paula // The way we manage our time can help or hinder our recovery. Without intentional time management, we might end up lazing around and deteriorating in our mental state, or we could be productive and use our time meaningfully; supporting our recovery. This is even more crucial during this time of COVID-19 when…
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My Guilt: Sumaiyah’s Story
By Sumaiyah // My guilt is pretty delusional. It thinks I am lonely and needs friendship. It thinks it should occupy a big space in my heart and life. It also thinks I have a lot of free time and that I enjoy mentally going through the things I am doing, or not doing. Again,…
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Humanity’s Time To Shine
The COVID-19 circuit breaker may have brought society to a standstill, but perhaps now is humanity’s time to shine.
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A Balancing Act: Vienna’s Story
I don’t remember much of what I went through from around April 2018 to August 2019. But I knew it was a dark period. My life’s calendar felt like it was partially erased and blanked out. Like flipping through those old-school tear-off almanacs, the ones with red and green Chinese characters, and then finding chunks…
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Living With Myself: Gerlind’s Story
Who would choose to go through such painful ups and downs? The medications that help us function day to day do not come cheap, either. When society pushes us away, where are we to go? We are just like you: we need friends, families, support groups, medication, and jobs…It’s now even trickier with the current…
