S1E109: Talking about youth mental health

Jul 4, 2023

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Our guests share how they dealt with their mental ups and downs.

Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

ST Podcasts is five years old! To celebrate our 5th anniversary, we recorded this episode live in front of an audience at Temasek Shophouse with three guests, and the topic was on youth mental health.

Young people are a lot more open to talking about their mental health challenges these days, but there’s still quite a lot of stigma surrounding mental health. To normalise mental health conversations, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo hosts three mental health advocates.

The first guest is Singaporean national swimmer Quah Ting Wen, a three-time Olympian who recently earned the prestigious title of Best Athlete at the 2023 South-east Asian (SEA) Games held in Cambodia.

The second guest is Sherman Ho, the co-founder of Happiness initiative, a social enterprise that focuses on well-being research and runs well-being programmes in schools, for companies and in the community.

The third guest is Sabrina Ooi, the co-founder & CEO of Calm Collective Asia, an organisation with the mission to normalise mental health conversations amongst professionals in Asia, through talks, programmes and roundtables.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:16 Ting Wen on life as a professional swimmer (it is not always rosy!)

2:57 Sherman on being in the happiness business, and talking about unhappiness

4:11 Sabrina talks about her past, when she was haunted by suicidal thoughts and how its normal to not feel well mentally

9:31 How Ting Wen’s first two years of college in the United States went

18:40 Tips on what to do when people talk to you about their mental health

Listen to our other live recording at Temasek Shophouse for Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/iUyv

Listen to Sabrina Ooi in Health Check Ep 110 - What a suicide survivor wants you to know: https://str.sg/iioq

Helplines

MENTAL WELL-BEING
• Institute of Mental Health’s Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222 (24 hours)
• Samaritans of Singapore: 1-767 (24 hours) / 9151-1767 (24 hours CareText via WhatsApp)
• Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019
• Silver Ribbon Singapore: 6386-1928
• Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788
• Chat, Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health: 6493-6500/1
• Women’s Helpline (Aware): 1800-777-5555 (weekdays, 10am to 6pm)

COUNSELLING
• TOUCHline (Counselling): 1800-377-2252
• TOUCH Care Line (for caregivers): 6804-6555
• Care Corner Counselling Centre: 6353-1180
• Counselling and Care Centre: 6536-6366

ONLINE RESOURCES
• moht.com.sg/mindline-sg
•  eC2.sg
•  tinklefriend.sg
•  chat.mentalhealth.sg
•  carey.carecorner.org.sg (for those aged 13 to 25)
•  limitless.sg/talk (for those aged 12 to 25)

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis and Eden Soh

Edited by: Eden Soh