Learning Resources

“Mental health is at the core of our humanity.” - António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

October 10 is World Mental Health Day.
Mental health is a clear and urgent issue - it is the next major epidemic. Stress, anxiety, and depression have become the defining health issues of our time – in addition to cancer, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and auto-immune among other chronic diseases that plague modern society. Stress – especially chronic stress – has been identified to be a significant contributing factor to most of not all of these chronic illnesses. It is an epidemic that plagues many professionals – which adversely impact not just productivity but quality of life and long-term mental well-being. For many life increasingly feels like a treadmill that they can’t get off, while others experience a growing sense of loneliness, isolation and disconnect despite living in an age of digital super-connectivity.

Research from publicly available data, private sources and personal experiences clearly demonstrate some clear and present gaps and pain-points in the mental health scene here in Singapore: insufficient available resources and an overloaded public mental healthcare system, a general lack of awareness on the importance of stress management and priorities for self-care and mental wellness (although this is slowly changing), a lack of available tools and channels for timely identification and pre-emptive diagnosis, data-poor islands of point-based care, and a sore lack of a personal life wellness strategy in the public discourse that makes prevention a priority (over intervention) and mental wellness a life priority.

And now with the ongoing pandemic that seems likely won’t be going away anytime soon, the situation has become dramatically more dire. It’s high time that we rethink - re-imagine - a new strategy for our mental health and well-being, individually and collectively.

Come and join our panel of practitioners and champions of mental well-being - to explore what new possibilities exist - the future of mental well-being!

To support the businesses during this pandemic, the Singapore government is ramping up the funding support for companies to take on transformative digital automation projects. Automating your processes through digitalization can lead to revenue growth, cost savings, and improved customer and employee experiences.
During this session, the panelists discussed grant eligibility criteria and explored the purpose, the pros, and the cons of various grant programs, as well as how to improve the chances of grant approval.
They also discussed how you and your employees can tap on the SkillFuture Credits to upskill and train and be ready to adapt to the changes in the market, acquire the skills required during the implementation of these digital automation projects.

With no definite time-frame for a COVID-19 vaccine in sight, the road ahead of us looks to be long, winding, and fraught with uncertainties, difficulties, and challenges.

Sean Tan, a lawyer by training with restructuring expertise, is the Chairman and Director of the True Group, which operates 10 fitness centers in Singapore and 14 in Taiwan under the “True Fitness”, “TFX” and “Yoga Edition” brands. The fitness business has not been spared, and in fact, has been hit hard by the crisis.

Regarded widely as a global creative and innovative thought leader in the fitness industry, Sean will share how he has steered the business through the Circuit Breaker and has restructured his team and the business to meet the challenges in the future. Grab this opportunity to take a glimpse into Sean’s playbook for survival, where Sean shares practical tips on how you as a business owner, leader or manager can prepare yourself and then your business for the challenges that lie ahead, including protecting your cash flow, cutting costs and expenses, re-purposing staff and resources, and pivoting.

How will the audience benefit from the session?

Known for his straight-talking and hands-on style of management and leadership, Sean gives practical advice without the fluff. The advice is geared towards both the individuals (whether business owners, leaders, or managers) and businesses, and one can expect to come away with something that will either inspire, motivate or cause one to think critically of another way of doing things.

Synopsis
We live in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Our planet, our world faces many unprecedented challenges. Along with prosperity, we have population explosion, poverty, violence, conflicts, increasing inequality, the environment, and global warming. We also face an epidemic of diseases of the modernized society, diseases of both the body and the mind: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, autoimmune, autism, ADHD, chronic stress & anxiety, and depression.
Mental health is now a clear and urgent issue - the next major epidemic. Research shows that fully one in four youths in the industrialized world suffer from some form of mental health issues while growing up. Youth suicides and attempted suicides have gone up steadily over the years. Another shocking statistic: 22% of children in Singapore think about suicide. What we're seeing is only the tip of the iceberg, as the pressure, the expectation, and the stress of living in modern society continue to grow. For many, life increasingly feels like a treadmill that they can’t get off, while others experience a growing sense of loneliness, isolation, and disconnect despite living in an age of digital super-connectivity - with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, gaming, e-sport, etc - with everything going digital and all the attendant mental health challenges that come with it.

The current reality is clearly unsustainable; the need for a new approach is clear and urgent. We need a new way of thinking, a new mindset, new skills, to make new choices. Life is about making choices. The thoughts we think, the words we speak, and the actions we take – choices that we make individually – and collectively – create the reality of our world.

As parents, what roles do we need to play - what new seeds do we need to plant - what new choices do we need to make - what new skills do we need to teach - for ourselves and for our children - to help point the way to a new kind of reality for a better tomorrow - the reality of a kinder, gentler, more just, more inclusive and more sustainable world.

A video on the benefits of mentoring to partner with the article from http://learningyourdevelopment.com entitled Mentoring: A Win-Win-Win for Mentees, Mentors and Organisations at http://bit.ly/1gMMrBc

When setting or establishing a new goal, consider using SMART goals. By using the acronym S.M.A.R.T. you provide structure to help ensure that a goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. The SMART method is a well-known approach that helps to increase your chances of success. FREE Online Course https://www.udemy.com/goal-setting/
Learn more at www.decisionskills.com.

Sir John Bittleston is the Founder, Executive Chairman of Terrific Mentor International and the only honorary member of Asia Institute of Mentoring.
He's an active octogenarian who loves mentoring and the hero for Yen-Lu Chow (AIM's Co-Founder).
Sir John believes in AIM's 5 pillars: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Career Resilience, Personal Well-Being and Parenting.

He shared his testimony on the launch of AIM 21 challenge about his personal mastery of mentoring, what it meant to him & how he advocates mentoring to everyone.

“It takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb that is very applicable to mentoring.

Our “village” has never been more necessary than it is today. We live in a fast-paced, instant information, and pressure-packed world.
Mentees also go through different stages in life, play multiple roles, that require different types of mentors, and at times more than one mentor for different parts of their life. Different mentors, with their own unique set of skills and mentoring expertise, can work with mentees to give them a well-rounded and multi-faceted mentoring environment.

This discussion is about collaboration and partnerships you need to build as a mentor with your peers to support your mentee in the best way possible.