An e-book documenting the diverse experiences of youths battling mental illnesses is in the works by a team of six young Singaporeans, The Straits Times reports.
Project It’ll Be Alright
The project, appropriately titled Project It’ll Be Alright, aims to collate stories and quotes from diverse portions of the youth population, including students in institutes of higher education and young working adults.
It was born out of hopes that it can “inspire and push [other youths] to see the light at the end of the tunnel” by showing them that “they are not alone and that others have overcome similar challenges”, shared team member Edward Lim, 27.
The team members are forthcoming with their own experiences with mental health issues in the past, sharing struggles from online sexual harassment to burnout from an intense university workload.
These experiences mean the project is particularly poignant for the team, who aim to help others find the support needed to bounce back stronger from mental illnesses, like they themselves had the privilege to.
The project is supported by Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling, who was concerned about the preponderance of “silent[ly] vulnerable” youths in our community.
The term refers to those who do not seek mental health help even if they are in distress, and can comprise considerable portions of the youth population even as schools expand their mental health support resources.
Ms Sun requested contributions from the community in an earnest Facebook post dated 17 February, which elicited enthusiastic responses and offers to participate in the project.
The involvement of a prominent political figure is much welcomed by the team, as Mr Lim explains: “it gives us another perspectives in terms of resources or tools, so we can figure out how this initiative… can align with MOE’s thinking and how we can better partner the public.”
The team hopes the project can eventually be adopted by MOE as part of its efforts to provide more extensive mental health support to its students, though the details are not yet clear.
Renewed Emphasis On Mental Health
The project came as MOE is seeking to give greater emphasis to the role of mental health in school life, reports Channel Newsasia.
As part of this effort, the Character and Citizenship Education curriculum in secondary schools, which the MOE is currently updating, will give dedicated coverage to mental health issues.
According to Indranee Rajah, Second Minister for Education, the curriculum will promote awareness on “common mental health issues and their symptoms, know[ing] when and how to seek help for themselves and others, and develop empathy and care towards persons with mental health issues.”
In addition to the curricular content, teachers are trained to encourage a “positive classroom culture”, and help students develop a more resilient mindset as well as skills necessary for emotional well-being.
Peer support structures will also be instituted in every school by 2022, to harness the strengths of fellow students in promoting mental health awareness in a way teachers cannot.
These reforms are timely, as observers have pointed out that existing support structures are inadequate.
“Mental health issues are silent, invisible killers.”
As Dr Lim Choon Guan, senior consultant at the Institute of Mental Health, shares in an interview with The Straits Times, the number of teenagers seeking mental health help for school-related stress has noticeably increased.
Professor Jason Tan of the National Institute of Education adds that the stressors youths face are more multifaceted than ever, from pressures of going to university to issues with self-image.
To this, he comments that “there are not enough safeguards in place”, since “mental health issues are silent, invisible killers.”
An issue that is also increasingly coming under the spotlight is the mental health of students belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, for whom Ministry support remains wanting.
According to an interview by TODAYonline, transgender students experiencing gender dysphoria receive vastly inadequate institutional support from schools and are often the target of stigma from their daily environment.
Youths may face challenges wearing the uniform that aligns with their gender identity, for example, or accessing professionally endorsed hormone replacement therapy. Both of these can cause significant distress.
Featured Image: Facebook (Sun Xueling)
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