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Passive Suicidal Ideation — Let’s Talk About It
By Rachel // Editor’s note: This article goes into an in-depth discussion about suicidal ideation. Before I was diagnosed with depression in Secondary 3, I often found myself daydreaming when I should have been listening in class or focusing on my work, a norm for the average secondary school student. Yet, amidst these daydreams were…
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The Healing Power of Art
By Kelly Ng // Frequent hospital visits when her father was undergoing a kidney transplant in 2018 made Aanya Rao realise how daunting the monochromatic walls and massive hospital equipment were. “Healthcare centres have become synonymous with ‘home’ for many of these patients and even healthcare workers, and I felt it is only fair that…
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After a Suicide Attempt, a Stuffed Bear Helped Renew a Sense of Purpose
By Marcus Lim // The modern workplace can be rewarding, but the increased pressure to get results and to work late, has led to more burnout. Enoch Li, 39, a Hong Kong social entrepreneur, strongly believes that more needs to be done to preserve the mental health of workers. She founded Bearapy with the mission…
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Taking Care of Our Mental Wellbeing during the Covid-19 Pandemic
“Instead of judging yourself and beating yourself up for not having a productive Work-From-Home day, perhaps you can gently tell yourself that you are still adjusting to the new work arrangement, and speak words of encouragement to yourself, like how you would do to a friend.”
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When Nothing Seems to Work: A.M.’s Story
By A.M. I’m A.M. and I have depression and anxiety disorder, or what I call, D+A. This has been my reality for the past three and a half years. The dysphoria started when I was 16. There was a ceaseless cloud of malaise and suicidal thoughts. Anxiety attacks were quotidian. I didn’t know what was…
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The Struggle for Better Days: Vivien’s Story
By Vivien Y. // I had lost a visible amount of weight in a short amount of time and people said that I looked great. The truth was that at 22 and living through the tribulations of the final semester of university, I was incredibly depressed. I wasn’t eating, I couldn’t sleep, I was running…
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5 Ways to Develop Empathy, A Bedrock Social Skill
By Joy Hou // “I just get so angry when she says she will call and then doesn’t,” said Celine about her good friend. Her husband Dave responded, “Darling, it’s such as a small matter, why are you always getting upset about these trivial things?” Inevitably, Celine got even more frustrated, leading to another one…
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Waves of Depression: Jacelynn’s Story
By Jacelynn // I’ve been receiving school counselling since I was in Primary 5. But it was only in October 2015 that I was officially diagnosed by a GP. I was having extreme suicidal thoughts. So extreme to the point that I would become nauseous. I’d run out of the house and kept on running…
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More Than My Disorder: Jia Jun’s Story
By Jia Jun // Breaking Mirrors – You Are More Than What You See It feels good talking about my eating disorder; to see how far I’ve come and to, hopefully, help someone out there. Sharing details about ED though, is triggering–I buried all the negativity on my road to recovery, so digging them up…
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Minding My Mind: Emily’s Story
By Emily // I am Emily. “THAT Emily” as the haters would say. Even my closest friends and schoolmates whisper critically amongst themselves at the very sight of me. They saw me as different and hated the fact that I was considered “special” and favoured by teachers and school seniors. Being the only child of…
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Boys Don’t Cry: Andrew’s Story
By Andrew Y. // I remember the night I surprised myself with my ability to cry. This was during my National Service. My mum was driving me back to camp and I started to tear while talking about how difficult NS was. It was at that point when I realised that I had a problem, and…
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Recovery is a Journey, Not a Destination: Sam’s Story
By Sam // To others, I appear a tough, strong, and independent girl: life’s hard knocks will not keep me down; I have a solid goal in life, a good career, and a partner. Little did I expect, I hit the rock bottom last April. It began when I felt lost all of a sudden.…
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A Letter to Mental Health Warriors: Judy’s Story
By Judy // I initially defined “recovery” as solely the healing of the mind. But neglected the healing of the heart and soul. I wondered if I had wasted the past three years living in apathy and bitterness because I’ve neglected my heart and soul, while getting treated for my mind. To cope with the…
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Baking your way to wellness
Can baking relieve mental anguish? It certainly did for social entrepreneur, Pei Rong. We had the honour of participating in Bakery Wellness‘ first ever baking workshop. It was an eye-opening (and delicious!) experience. But what touched us most was
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Fighting Enemies: Ritalyn’s Story
Editor’s Note: Ritalyn wrote to us to share her journey of recovering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression and anxiety. It’s been a long and winding road, but her efforts have paid off. Having a mental health condition does not impede us from excelling, doing what we love, or giving back to society. Read more…
