SINGAPORE – When Mr Jagathishwaran Rajo was in college, his mom was recognized with diabetes, which turned extreme and required the amputation of each her legs.
She turned depressed, and Mr Jaga, as a family member caring for her, started to really feel the stress as nicely.
His prolonged household got here to the rescue by offering robust support, and his fellow neighborhood leaders additionally cheered him on.
This expertise led Mr Jaga, now 34, to realise the significance of the completely different layers of support one wants when going via tough instances – support from household and the neighborhood, on high of particular person resilience.
He is now considered one of two facilitators of Zhenghua Wellness, considered one of 22 tasks underneath the Youth Mental Well-Being Network.
Mr Jaga, an business coaching officer, got here up with the concept in the center of final 12 months. “We can not have a look at youth psychological well-being in isolation; we have now to have a look at the ecosystem the place two key stakeholders are dad and mom and schools.”
Zhenghua Wellness has a two-pronged method to tackling the problem, he mentioned.
First, it runs webinars about psychological wellness for residents eager on discovering out extra concerning the matter. In October and November final 12 months, it ran three digital periods with about 150 contributors.
Of these contributors, 20 attended a follow-up in-person coaching session that had case research and role-play to find out how to higher support somebody with psychological well being considerations.
Out of the 20, 12 have been recognized for a befriending programme with Thye Hua Kwan Family Service Centre in Bukit Panjang, the place they’re partnered with younger residents who’ve consented to neighborhood support.
Second, the undertaking roped in the father or mother support teams of six schools in the neighbourhood to ship psychological well being seminars to about 150 dad and mom in August and September.
The seminars lined how dad and mom can interact their kids and support them meaningfully, amongst different subjects, mentioned Mr Jaga.
He hopes extra neighborhood programmes might be initiated to proceed bettering the psychological well being support ecosystem right here.
“I hope we will eradicate stigma on this matter,” he mentioned.
“Now, some individuals who come in for monetary help really feel much less paiseh (Hokkien for embarrassed) than if it is for psychological well being points. I would like to body it as one thing everybody wants, and that’s half and parcel of our lives.”
