Mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in Singapore, particularly amongst the youth.
How can we develop preventive measures, and instill stronger emotional regulation, self-awareness and self-care skills from young?
Mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in Singapore, particularly amongst the youth.
How can we develop preventive measures, and instill stronger emotional regulation, self-awareness and self-care skills from young?
backtogroundzero aims to target the gaps in socio-emotional learning among youths in Singapore.
The team has developed “Mr Mole’s Mindful Magic”, a series of mindfulness enrichment sessions that use nature and environemental concepts as gateways to help youths develop socio-emotional learning skills.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Being firm and confident of themselves such that youths would not be affected by the actions of others.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Presence of animals and activities
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings,I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
self confidence, self love
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
i try to appreciate the beauty of nature
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Understanding how they are feeling and how to deal with it in social and alone situations
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Sitting in parks with a book.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings,I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
emotional regulation
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
take a walk in the park
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Habits(individual/stacking) & change(making/accepting)
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
I try to go hiking and kayaking when i can. Both activities that i enjoy
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Resilience
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Hikes
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Effective/Positive Coping mechanisms
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Runs/Treks
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Resilience
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Enjoying the silence around nature which usually ends up in reflection.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Cyber-wellness
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Exercising
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Managing stress and communication of feelings to others
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Go for walks in parks.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Trauma
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Go outside
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
The fact that it’s okay and normal to seek help for mental health issues. As much as we would like to think that peer support is enough to survive, often it’s not and people need to know that as well. Also red flags to look out for.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Cycle and do walking. Hiking is not very convenient but if it is, it would really help as well.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Emotional Regulation, Resilience, Being \"at-peace\" with yourself (Self-Love: You are the best, you don\'t need anyone to validate that)
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Exploring new places, doing new activities, making friends
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
it takes time to understand yourself and your mind, heart too. it is alright to let go of everything to grasp yourself.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
sports, mainly jogging and rollerblading.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I know myself extremely well,I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
That we are not our minds, and what it creates. Our mind is just like any other organ with its own function and it\'s important to see that and not be identified with it, just like how we wouldn\'t think we are merely our arms or our legs etc.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Touching trees
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I know myself extremely well
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
That it’s okay to be actually to just turn off their brain and life and take time to recoopwrate
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Understanding nature and feeling it’s beauty
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Depression, anxiety
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Jogging
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Self-discovery, stress management, anger management, trauma management
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Look out of the window just to admire the nature
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Emotions regulation, stress and anxiety management, not fearing failure as I personally feel that many mental wellbeing issues stem from our need to perform and do well in our studies due to the pressure cooker culture. Another concept would be not being afraid to reach out and talk about one’s mental wellness challenges to break the stigma.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Taking strolls in more scenic areas, away from the crowd, so that I can clear my head.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Self love, Self Appreciation, Self Value, How to achieve Confidence, Sharing of thoughts, How to choose the right friendship.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
I enjoy growing plants/fruits/ vegetables/Gardening. I also think recycling, using less resources is important.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
They should bring up the topic about depression more. I feel like most youths in Singapore are starting to lose themselves.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
I go out for walks a lot. I love getting a dose of vitamin D every week. I also watch a lot of science programs and shows because I have a strong sense of affection towards nature and wild.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Social emotional learning competencies, mindfulness
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
slow walks in the park and in nature
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I know myself extremely well,I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Resilience, self acceptance, balance and all things in moderation.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Running :)
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Learning how to deal with failure/rejection, learning how to be happy with yourself
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
I sit at the park to relax after a run
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I know myself extremely well,I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Self-awareness and the ability to process whatever they are going through.
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
The beauty of nature when I take time to admire the environment around me.
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I occasionally understand why I feel the way I do
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Self awareness
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Being present and living in the present
In response to "How would you describe your relationship with yourself?"
I have a good grasp of my feelings
In response to "What mental wellness concepts do you think should be taught to all youths in Singapore?"
Positive thoughts, love yourself, respect for body and soul, health and nutrition, respect for others and honesty
In response to "What is one thing you do that helps you connect with nature and the environment?"
Cycle in the park and its trails.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Relate activities to the mental wellness topics
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
you can raise awareness on how social media affects us because at 11-12 is when a lot of kids start using social media
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Normalise negative feelings!
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Seeing as how target participants are young children, it\'s possible to get them more involved(hands-on: check 👍🏼) and have their parents included to encourage communication. Have \'homework\' and/or long(-ish) term projects that they could choose to continue well after the programmes, this might encourage family participation as well. Providing/referring tips and guides could be helpful in the case of outdoor activities.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
You can consider having art-jamming in the park!
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I think this is a very meaningful initiative that can protect our young, especially with growing issues with mental health in youths. With youths often being troubled by the high societal standards, it is essential that they learn from young how to manage expectations and cope with them. This ensures their well-being and protect them from being overly caught up in obstacles in life.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Pick a niche and focus on it rather than make it broad & general. This will lead to more specific intervention
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
It is definitely a very impressive initiative. You guys can look into adding more physical activities related to environmental sustainability such as hiking, gardening and what not while you guys teach them how to take care of their mental health as well. To make it more sustainable you guys could recruit volunteers and train them to engage in activities with the children as well.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Involve the parents - encourage parents to engage in pre/post event activities together with their children so that parents are aware/familiar with the concepts taught and can reinforce them at home.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I think your progress is pretty amazing already! Perhaps thinking about partnering with schools?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
You guys could incorporate exciting activities such as hiking , spot the flower journey something like that to invoke interest in people. Something valuable that they will gain from this whole project
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I love the idea of combining eco-literacy and mental health, given the clear connection between the two as demonstrated by the psychological literature. Your target group (7 to 12 yo) is a broad category with very diverse needs, so consider how you will scaffold the different concepts to allow for progression in students\' understanding and dispositions over time. Also think about how your intervention will supplement what students learn in school, given the concerted effort to have more discussions about mental health in the revised Citizenship and Curriculum Education syllabus.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I think it\'s great that the team is targeting kids of that age group as I think that any information is easily transferred to them in those prime years of learning basic concepts, and will be ingrained the information in their minds for a long time. Perhaps they could partner with tuition centres/enrichment centres/schools (MOE) to expand the project on a larger scale so that it will benefit more youth. They could hold trial classes with parents of the kids to give the parents a grasp of what their children will be learning to convince the parents to sign their children up for these mental health classes which will be enriching to their children\'s\' mental health, benefitting them in the long run.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I love how this programme targets the younger crowd because it is always good to inculcate good mental wellbeing practices and concepts in our younger generation. Perhaps one area of improvement would be to extend this opportunity to schools so that more children can benefit from this service, especially those where the parents would not usually take them to the library or be privy to such a service.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
What is the program about ? Can it be open to young adults, teens, adults , parents , seniors with the framework to help support their mental health too ? How many participants can join ? Any follow up, progression after joining ?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
i like how the project ties nature with mental health! perhaps one thing the team can consider is to explore existing Social emotional learning resources that have been used and tested/evaluated and combining that with environmental education/nature walks!! eg meditating in a park/near a Reservoir. using games/challenges/activities to explain SEL and mindfulness concepts might be cool too!
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
This is a great project! I think there\'s potential to expand it a little further to include how the youths view themselves as part of the world. i.e. after self awareness, to also include awareness of the self in a certain context or environment. I think how understanding ourselves first is important, but it is how we interact with the world we live in that affects us most. Perhaps it is vital that we teach this too.