Awakening Minds Update Featuring Article on Caring for Loved Ones with Manic Depression

Dear everyone:

In this Awakening Minds update, I would like to focus on the mental wellness component of Awakening Minds (www.awakeningminds.sg, Mental Wellness tab): my book, Five Little White Pills... And Then There Were None: A Journey from Manic Depression to Recovery, my individualised consultation service and my brand new article, "Guardian Angels of Tough Love: Caring for Loved ones with Manic Depression." It illuminates the importance for caregivers to act with firmness and strength in their endeavour to help their loved ones to return to a life of normalcy.

1. I would like to promote my book, Five Little White Pills... And Then There Were None: A Journey from Manic Depression to Recovery (Armour Publishing, 2009). More than just an inspiring depiction about my struggle and my steps towards my medication-free life, while raising my autistic son, this book also offers practical tips for helping sufferers of manic depression and their caregivers to manage the condition at various phases of their journey. This book may be found at Kinokuniya Orchard (please do call to ensure that the book is available), or you can email me and I will mail you an autographed copy of book to you upon receipt of payment (cheque, Internet bank transfer, Paypal). The book is priced at SD$16.00 (+mailing costs; for Singapore, the total cost will be $18.55).

(To learn more about this book and see a picture of the cover, please go to www.awakeningminds.sg, Books tab, and email me atchoo.kahying@awakeningminds.com.sg.)

2. Apart from publishing my book and creating this Website, I have also felt that I could even better help sufferers of mood disorders (manic depression and depression) by providing an affordable individualised, home-based consultation service. Currently, sufferers and caregivers rely upon medication, therapy (once a week or with less frequency) and periodic consultations with psychiatrists. However, many sufferers may still be struggling with managing their condition on a day-to-day basis in between their sessions. There are many things that they need to do on their own in order to return to sound mental health. As an individual who continues to manage my condition without the aid of medication on a daily basis, this is a concern that I am intimately acquainted with. Thus, I hope that my consultation service can empower sufferers and their caregivers with the practical steps necessary for them to return to normalcy, with my customised life programmes for them. If interested, please email me at choo.kahying@awakeningminds.sg.

3. In my brand new article, "Guardian Angels of Tough Love: Caring for Loved ones with Manic Depression", I strive to empower caregivers to recognise their importance in enabling their loved ones to manage their manic depression effectively. More specifically, caregivers need to act firmly even in the face of strong resistance from their loved ones caught up in their struggle with their illness. Here is an excerpt of this article:

"Manic depression can best be likened to a roller coaster in which sufferers plumb the depths of despair and scale the heights of euphoria. More than just an extreme form of sadness, depression is a state of mental and emotional paralysis that depletes the sufferers’ ability to think, feel and live. For them, each day only holds forth the painful prospect of having to go through the motions of life without any meaning or purpose. Then, without their knowing, sufferers experience a gradual lifting of their spirits to normalcy that deludes them with the false promise of recovery, before they are propelled to the manic state...

However, the caregiver role that I most want to focus on is the role of the caregiver as the “guardian angel of tough love”. This particular role often poses the greatest challenge to caregivers. As guardian angels of tough love, caregivers take on the awesome responsibility of doing whatever is within their power to motivate and steer their loved ones towards recovery."

(To read the entire article, please go to www.awakeningminds.sg, Media Tab, Articles on Manic Depression)

4. Finally, I am pleased to inform you that my article, "Special People and Us", was published in the Review Section of The Straits Times (January 23, 2010), under the title, "The Special Road to Happiness."). I hope to be able to have more of my writings published in the local media in order to reach out to a greater audience and raise public awareness on issues related to special needs and mental illnesses.

Until the next time, here's wishing all of you the best for your life journey as you strive towards physical, mental and emotional wellness....

Best regards,

Kah Ying

Creator of Awakening Minds.sg

+65 81634509

Mental Wellness Workshops: A Preventive Approach

Hi everyone:

In this special update, I would like to highlight my mental wellness workshops (click MENTAL WELLNESS tab at www.awakeningminds.sg) that are targeted at youths (secondary school students and onwards), and/or educators and parents. Within our education system, parents and educators are often overly focused on cultivating academic pursuits at the expense of the mental and emotional well-being of the students. They are planting the seeds of future emotional distress and duress in often intelligent, but emotionally sensitive students. It is important to highlight the fact emotional stress is also not conducive for the students' academic performance. Even more seriously, these students may succumb to mental illness in subsequent years as they confront increasingly difficult life challenges at the tertiary level and head towards adulthood.

Therefore, it is the mission of Awakening Minds.sg to not only enlighten the public and the schools (adults and students) about mental wellness/illness, but also to highlight the preventive aspect in my talks/workshops. Instead of addressing the mental and emotional needs of individuals when they have succumbed to mental duress, my talks and workshops will identify measures and strategies for supporting healthy socio-emotional development.

Youth Empowerment Series -- Talks/Workshops for Typical Secondary School Students [MENTAL WELLNESS]

• On the Brink of Adulthood: Stressors and Strategies. Faced with the stressors of adjusting to adulthood, many youths experience their first episode of depression or manic-depression during their university years. What students as well as their caregivers can do to ease this challenging transition will be discussed. In a workshop format, students will have the opportunity to explore and identify their concerns. They will also be able to map out ideas and strategies to help them to ease their transition.

• ALL NEW! Girl Power: I Love Being a Girl! Targeted at female students aged 14 and above, this workshop will explore the following topics in a series of dynamic and interactive writing exercises and creative activities: societal notions of womanhood and constraints; body image; girl pride; female role models; and their perceptions, desires and life projects.

With these two workshops, I hope to empower our future generations of young people to embrace their unique identities so that they have the courage, self-esteem, spirit and conviction to bring their dreams to fruition. When everyone is doing what they love, they will also be doing what they do best and we will have an incredible world.

Talks/Workshops for Educators, Parents and Students [MENTAL WELLNESS]

• Society’s Role in Combating Mental Illness!. A provocative talk to challenge society to play a positive role in dealing with the issue of mental illness and to identify ways for the public to contribute to building a society that genuinely embraces those who are different.

• Pursuit of Mental Wellness and Finding Your Authentic Self. An intimate glimpse into the importance of living the life you are meant to live as a means to achieving mental wellness and preventing mental illness. It also challenges adults to examine their role in promoting or undermining the quest of the young people under their care.

• Dealing with Depression for Yourself, Colleagues and Students: Insights, Strategies and Suggestions. This workshop provides an informative overview of depression. How teachers can cope with their own depression or help others such as colleagues and their students within the context of the school setting will also be addressed.

To learn more about me and the workshops that I have conducted, please click the "Events" tab of my Awakening Minds.sg Website (www.awakeningminds.sg). I look forward to hearing from you and customising a workshop that will meet your objectives and transform your perspectives.

Sincerely yours,

Kah Ying

+6581634509