What is MMI Mental Health Initiative 2021/2022?

Co-chaired by Ang Zheng Jiet and Chloe Goh Sue Yee, MMI Mental Health Initiative (MHI) 2021/2022 is a nine-month-long initiative dedicated to improving the mental health landscape by educating the general public about mental health whilst raising awareness of mental health issues within the healthcare community. Through education, we believe that individuals who are well-equipped with sufficient knowledge will make a substantial contribution in shaping a more empathetic, vigilant and supportive community. We also strongly believe that by continuing the efforts of our predecessors in advocating for the mental health of medical students and healthcare workers, we are encouraging and fostering a safe space for individuals to feel empowered and speak up about mental health illnesses without fearing prejudice or discrimination.

The MHI was conducted in three phases, namely General Public, Medical Students and Healthcare Workers. Contents were curated based on the specific targeted community and presented in the form of infographics and videos on our social media platforms. We are humbled to be able to gather like-minded individuals and experts in the field under one roof to share insights on designated topics in a series of panel discussion and webinars. Starting off with ‘Healing: An Interfaith Panel Discussion’ whereby the interconnection between religion and mental health was discussed between speakers of different religious backgrounds. A Tea Talk session amongst medical students followed soon after whereby the speakers addressed the elephant in the room - burnout. Thereafter, an introductory session to Psychological First Aid was conducted with a huge success! Alas, we concluded our series by discussing mental health amongst healthcare workers and asking the big question, will mental health become the next pandemic? 

In the efforts of empowering individuals beyond the medical faculty to be active advocates, we recruited a diverse team of Global Mental Health Ambassadors to promote our initiative to a wider audience both locally and internationally. To officially wrap-up the MHI, we embarked on a (wonderful) journey of publishing our very own MMI Mental Health Handbook! With ambitious plans to improve the mental health literacy of our community, we enthusiastically (hope) that our efforts and contributions will further inspire new generations of advocates to stand-up and fight for mental health and wellbeing. As we like to say ‘There is no health without mental health’!  

Phase 1 (General Community): October 2021 - December 2021

Phase 2 (Medical Students): January 2022 - February 2022 

Phase 3 (Healthcare Workers): March 2022 - Early April 2022

Handbook: May 2022 - August 2022