We are moving fast into the second half of the year.

July has been a difficult month for our nation. The sudden rise in COVID-19 numbers seems to make us feel powerless over the pandemic situation. In addition, for those of us who play our role right to fight the pandemic, the return to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) for four weeks seemed unfair. Some of us are also being affected by the unfortunate incident from River Valley High School. Some of us are disappointed by how our National Hero lost during qualifying rounds of the Olympics, not being able to defend his title. We are going to have a very toned-down National Day Parade this year in Phase 2 Heightened Alert. However looking at the positive side of things, many of us taking control of the situation by playing a part in getting our vaccination completed. Our nation has two-thirds of its population fully vaccinated. In addition, many other athletics are representing Singapore in the Olympics. We are celebrating our Nation’s birthday twice (another one on 21 August)!

In July, we have presented a total of three webinars! Rachel has presented the topic “The Definitive Guide to Combating Workplace Stress & Burnout” to Yishun Health on 7 July. Weiren has presented on the topic “Transiting Healthily into the Workplace – Coping with Anxiety, Stress & Burnout” to Republic Polytechnic, School of Sports, Health & Leisure on 14 July. I have presented on the topic “Demystifying Counselling and Psychotherapy” to SIM Psychology Society. I will be doing a similar run for the public webinar in Jan 2022.

Over here at The Lion Mind, we have relaunched the Coping Series in webinar format. We are hoping to launch it face-to-face once the country goes endemic. This month, we will be having “Coping with Depression”. Depression is considered the common cold / flu of mental health illnesses. Depression is common, affecting most of us at least one point in our lives. Depression may affect us more due to our genetic make-up, the environment that we are in, and our developmental years. Come learn how to cope with depression in this webinar.

We have started offering Psychological Assessments using BASC-3. This is a useful psychological test kit. It enables our mental health clinicians to properly evaluate the behaviour and self-perceptions of our clients who may be struggling with school, college, or university. This helps inform possible diagnosis and treatment plan recommendations. Most importantly, this is good for clients (below 26 years old and still studying) who do not want a formalized psychological diagnosis.

Stay safe! #SGUnited