A project to increase mental health literacy in Singapore
If, like myself and many of the clients I see, you struggle with that internal conflict in your mind, I recommend that you watch The Monster in the Mirror. It conceptualises being made of different parts in a fun and easy-to-digest way. I encourage you to be a little friendlier to all your parts today; try to hear them out in a non-judgemental way rather than trying to shut them down or ignore them.
“…because it’s a fact, well enshrined in folklore, that if we are to kill the demon, then first we have to say its name.”
I was posted to IMH as a student nurse, and my experience has changed my view of IMH. I am sharing this with hopes of spreading awareness and de-stigmatising mental health issues.
Be it through observing their behaviour, monitoring their grades, or looking through their homework, educators have more insight into the psyche of students than they may realise. With this insight so readily available to them, it is important that educators know what to do with such insight.
If an 11-year old’s essay about a self-harmer who killed herself is not alarming, I don’t know what is.
If we stop letting our history – no matter how recent – of suicide control what we say or how we talk to others, we stop giving it the power to force us into living in shame. The best part is that the more we talk about it, the more we empower those around us to talk about it, and the more we take away suicide’s hold on all of us.
Caregivers want to be seen as the ones to be depended on; the ones to turn to when the going gets tough. However, I wonder if an unwavering strong front is what is best for the ones being cared for as well as the caregivers.
Looking through some of my old writings from the peak of my self-destruction, depression, and anxiety, when I chanced upon In The Mirror: 9th April…
What would you like to see more of in Singapore’s mental health scene (if you had to choose one)? #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #EndTheStigma #Singapore #mentalhealth — Claire…
Few people enjoy getting diagnoses because of everything that follows – the generalisation, the stigma, the discrimination… However, I cannot help but wonder whether there is a silver lining to receiving a diagnosis. A relief, of sorts.