Youths' Mental Health Challenges
(Prepared by: Amalena / TU)
Embedded Files
“Self-care is how you take your power back.”
“Self-care is how you take your power back.”
Lalah Delia
Lalah Delia
It is first important to know the difference between Mental Health & Mental Illness
Mental Health is a reflection of “our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.” It affects “how we think, feel, and act,” and has a strong impact on the way we interact with others, handle problems, and make decisions.
Mental Illness refers to the conditions that affect a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, or behaviour. These can include but are not limited to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
Youths & their Mental Health
Youths & their Mental Health
Youth’s mental health is affected by two main aspects…
1. Their (internal) perception of themselves and their lives such as their happiness, life satisfaction, confidence & self-esteem.
1. Their (internal) perception of themselves and their lives such as their happiness, life satisfaction, confidence & self-esteem.
There are several indicators that can be used to gauge how youths perceive their lives to be. Among them are happiness, life satisfaction and confidence. The general rating for these indicators has fallen over the last 10 years. Youths well-being (which includes social, emotional, mental and physical aspects) is closely tied to their self-esteem and self-efficacy. Both are crucial in shaping a youth’s self-drive and recovering mechanisms. Although self-efficacy is improving over the years, self-esteem among youths has fallen. Another aspect that can skew the youths' self-perception is their resilience. Their ability to bounce back from stress and adversities is critical to thrive in the face of challenges such as those in our fast-paced and ever changing environment. Generally, youths see themselves as resilient despite a small drop in the numbers across the years.
2. Social stigmas surrounding mental health such as the lack of awareness and negative perceptions towards the issue.
2. Social stigmas surrounding mental health such as the lack of awareness and negative perceptions towards the issue.
Looking beyond each individual youth lies the underlying issue that resides in the stigma towards mental health. In 2019, the majority of youths felt that more support on mental well-being could be rendered to young people in schools and at workplaces. More specifically, there should be an increase in awareness on mental health issues to destigmatize them such that it creates a more inclusive society. Having negative perceptions towards mental health issues only worsens the problem because it prevents youths from seeking help. When this happens, it creates a vicious downward spiral for youths as the fear of being judged and marginalised could possibly worsen the state of their mental well-being.
Working Towards Inclusivity
Working Towards Inclusivity
Fortunately, we are slowly taking steps to being more open to discussing mental health with our youths.
With that in mind, the current mental health landscape is further escalated due to COVID-19. The pandemic has reduced their time engaging in social activities and play which are considered risk factors for depression and anxiety. In addition, the Singapore Covid-19 Mental Wellness Taskforce (CoMWT) shared that mental well-being was a challenge for about 52% of our youth population in 2020.
In light of the situation, more efforts have been taken to step up the awareness and knowledge regarding mental health. This includes more training for school teachers on the matter. These counsellor teachers will work together with school counsellors, as well as professional social service agencies (like REACH - Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health) to render help to those in dire need. There will also be enhancements of Mental Health literacy through the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum at school. It would look into imparting values & thinking about one’s life purpose, managing automatic negative thoughts (ANTS) and cyber-wellness, which deals with managing idealised images via social media. Besides such interventions, it is also important to rope in parents to ensure that youths have a proper eco-system of support.
What can you do as an Instructor?
What can you do as an Instructor?
Have an open-mind and be willing to listen to your participants. If you encounter participants who reach out to you to share about their mental well-being, be a listening ear. Avoid making judgements about your participants.
Be aware of the social interactions within the group to recognize those that may be marginalised or trying to seek attention. Do seek external guidance if you are unable to manage the participants on your own.
Educate yourselves on the Trauma-Informed Care - Realise, Recognize, Respond & Resist. The framework can help in guiding your decisions and actions when managing participants who experienced trauma.
(*hint hint* Have a look through your Trauma-Informed Care Workshop notes)
“Emotional pain is not something that should be hidden away and never spoken about. There is truth in your pain, there is growth in your pain, but only if it’s first brought out into the open.”
“Emotional pain is not something that should be hidden away and never spoken about. There is truth in your pain, there is growth in your pain, but only if it’s first brought out into the open.”
Steven Aitchison
Steven Aitchison
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse