IMPACT 0412: TAKING A STAND FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THE NEXT GENERATION

Karen Lee, 24, works at CampusImpact, a social service agency that supports children and families from disadvantaged communities. She often connects with youth-at-risk and low-income families through community programmes and research work. Beyond her job scope, Karen is a mental health advocate who is keen to explore the quality, accessibility and affordability of mental health services in Singapore. Today, she brings us deeper into her journey and passions!

I often run volunteer programmes for children or youth to engage them meaningfully through education, enrichment and character development opportunities. For example, I run a volunteering tuition programme for children who come from low-income families.

I also conduct research for my organisation’s programmes. In my research work, I hope to generate insights on how effective our programmes are in serving our clients, and to identify any areas of improvement in our programme execution.

Outside of work, I am a mental health advocate. My advocacy is focused on the individual and systemic level. Firstly, I advocate for healthy mental health discourse, in which I believe is the first step in reducing mental health stigma as one can share their vulnerabilities in a courageous and non-judgmental way. As such, I engage in self-disclosure about my personal lived experiences with depression and anxiety to those around me.

You can check out @spectrum.nus, a mental health initiative that I co-founded while in university. I am also keen on studying the accessibility, quality, and affordability of mental health care in Singapore. As such, I am thankful to be able to learn more about the topic through my work at @sgmentalhealthmatters, as well as in my work as a legislative assistant for a Member of Parliament.

My advocacy is most inspired by my work on the ground. From my early experiences as a volunteer, I have learnt to better empathise and hold space for those I’ve connected with. From exchanging personal stories and having compassion for each other’s experiences, I eventually found the drive to speak up bravely for the misunderstood and unheard.

When working with children and families, I often struggle with accepting the different realities that my clients live in. This comes with heartbreak, disappointment and compassion fatigue. I have learnt to overcome this by learning how to process my emotions while reorienting myself to be in a better position to sit in with the emotions of others as we build deeper connections. Having work life boundaries is very useful for my work too.

In addition, I often feel discouraged about the “slow” outcomes of advocacy. However, I have learnt to be patient by reminding myself that I just have to do whatever I can within my own capacity and that change will eventually happen.

In Maya Angelou’s words, “Like a tree planted by the river, I shall not be moved.”

I hope to share deeper connections with the people I work with, to widen my knowledge and expertise to serve others better. In the far future ahead, I hope to do a Master’s in Clinical Psychology, Counselling or Social Work, and maybe even start my own ground-up initiative to give back to more people.