Mental Health Awareness Week provides wellness insights to the Yale-NUS community

Students learning at the Anxiety Ring Workshop. Image taken by Ranza Takeda Koay (Class of 2024)

“How is your heart doing today?” asked Lynne, a mindfulness coach at the Combatting Anxiety and Stress Lunch Talk during Yale-NUS’ Mental Health Awareness Week. To help our community answer this often neglected question amidst the rush of the school year, the Yale-NUS Wellness Committee organised a week of events from 5 to 9 September 2022 designed to promote awareness of and improve the Yale-NUS community’s overall health and mental wellbeing.

Some of the various talks, events, and workshops that were conducted during the week included Anxiety Ring Making, Laughter Yoga and a screening of Pixar’s Inside Out.

At the Combatting Anxiety and Stress Lunch Talk, mindfulness coach Lynne – who usually coaches senior executives to cope with anxiety, burnout, or stress – guided the session. Lynne discussed various types of anxiety and shared tips on how to manage their effects upon one’s life. Some methods of mitigation included intentional reflection on one’s needs and feelings, somatic breathing and counting techniques for anxiety relief and the RAIN method – a tool for practising mindfulness. For those looking to support their friends or family who suffer from symptoms of anxiety, Lynne suggests asking loved ones questions such as “how are you feeling?” or “how can I support you?” instead of being dismissive of their issues.

One of the event participants, Kimberly Quek (Class of 2025) shared that the talk was helpful in pointing out the root causes of anxiety and how one can actively deal with them. Kimberly will be incorporating some of these techniques into her daily life.

Finished rings from the Anxiety Ring Workshop. Photo taken by Ranza Takeda Koay (Class of 2024)

At the Anxiety Ring Making workshop, students gathered at the Fabrication Studio together with the Yale-NUS Fashion Society. Participants experimented with wire, plastic beads and baked clay ornaments to create tactile fidget rings to de-stress and focus on a calming, hands-on task.

Laughter Yoga, which the instructor described as “just laughing and having fun, [which] helps with stress management. When you laugh, you cannot think of any negative thoughts,” was held in the Performance Hall foyer. After being taught the essentials of rhythmic clapping and laughing patterns, participants practised chanting affirmative phrases and laughing while clapping or spreading their arms. Awkward, shy laughter turned into genuine hilarity as everyone slowly became more accustomed to the exercises.

Manager, Campus Life, Cheryl Tan, who leads the Yale-NUS Wellness Committee, gave some insights into the wellness and mental health environment on campus. She said, “Students here are relatively more open to talking about mental health and seeking help for mental health struggles. I am reminded of my colleagues who always say – you must take care of yourself before you can take care of others. I find this advice very helpful to remind myself of the importance of self-care.”

Manager Tan believes that that promoting mental health awareness on campus is essential. She added, “By raising awareness of mental health education at Yale-NUS, we hope to eliminate the stigma of reaching out for mental health support as well as to foster resilience in students. It is important that students are taught the importance of caring for their mental health, how to spot signs of distress, coping strategies and are able to identify  the various support structures that they can reach out to.”

Besides events such as Mental Health Awareness Week, resources such as wellness coaching are also available for the Yale-NUS community to develop wellness plans for areas such as time management and eliminating unhealthy habits. The College has different layers of support built into our community. This includes residential staff such as Assistant Deans (ADs) and Residential Life Officers (RLOs) who provide academic advising and student care within the residential community. The Counselling and Wellness team is also heavily involved in running the Wellness pillar of the Yale-NUS Residential Curriculum. The residential curriculum is an intentionally curated sequence of programmes, discussions and activities that students will experience in their four years of campus living, designed to maximise learning, growth and engagement opportunities outside of the formal classroom. Through committed engagement in our residential colleges, students become engaged community members, practise intercultural engagement, and learn the skills of self-care and care for others.

Yale-NUS community having fun during the Laughter Yoga event. Image taken by Tanmay Raghuvanshi (Class of 2025)