A home with a nurturing, communicative and an understanding environment is vital for the mental wellbeing of children and youth. The support from their parents, school and peers plays a big part to make that happen. Take a look at how one distressed individual gained hope and confidence after all the necessary elements came together.
Here’s a story about K*, a youth who was diagnosed with dysthymia, a persistent depressive disorder. In 2023, K was referred to Flourishing Minds @ Singapore Children’s Society by the Institute of Mental Health. Due to dysthymia, K experienced low moods consistently for two years. Additionally, they experienced constant fatigue, restlessness and feelings of hopelessness. K is also highly sensitive to others and tend to spiral into self-defeating thoughts like “they hate me and want me to die” when triggered by actual or perceived signs of social rejection.
Growing up in a single-parent family, K had early experiences of being ignored and rejected by their parent. In primary school, they struggled to make friends and found themselves excluded by their peers. Further transitions in their teenage years during the pandemic were exacerbated by challenges in identity development when they grappled with their sexual orientation, gender and religious identity.
Later in the year, K went through a severe self-harm episode where they overdosed on pills on an impulse, causing them to be hospitalised for a few days. Then, they disclosed their persistent thoughts of suicide due to pervasive hopelessness and lack of a reason for living. Through counselling sessions, K’s parent became more supportive by learning skills to co-regulate and be emotionally attuned to them while building up their own network of support. School leaders and teachers also came in to coordinate an alternative learning environment such that K could sit out of the classroom when they felt overwhelmed. This arrangement promoted learning for them in a less stimulating environment and helped them to ease back into the classroom over the next few months. The support from their parents and school made a huge difference on K’s wellbeing and accelerated their journey of self-acceptance.
Currently, K reported that they are in a good place across the different domains in their life, including family, school and peer relationships. They are taking steps in accepting their authentic self, which includes pursuing their own hobbies and identifying their own community. K has gradually grown to be more confident and being true to themselves.
K attributed these positive changes to strategies that they have learnt, in accepting and managing strong feelings that may arise in more effective ways. With ongoing therapy and practice, they have become more confident in using self-soothing methods to calm and ground themselves while mindfully engaging and reframing unhelpful thought patterns to avoid reaching a point of dysregulation or acting impulsively.
Over time, K has also shown to be more motivated to take charge of their life. Instead of focusing only on symptoms reduction, they also engaged in conversations about identifying ways to promote their wellbeing. They received additional support for their ongoing difficulties with attention span, which have clear implications in their ability to keep up academically.
On their hopes for the future, K looks forward to growing into a more independent young adult who is capable of managing their own needs and achieving their goals. They wish to encourage other youth who may be facing challenges in life to never stop believing in their own potential to grow and to keep standing up for themselves despite the odds.
If you know of any children or youth who are going through distress, do refer them to our mental health check-in sessions with our trained professionals here.
*Name has been changed to protect our client’s identity
Click here to read the story in Chinese.
请点击此处阅读中文版本
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