NuLife Symposium 2018
“I Am Fine”
“To anyone out there who’s hurting—it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help. It’s a sign of strength”. We see people, at times strangers, at times colleagues, at times friends and at times loved ones succumbing to their circumstances never getting to truly understand the reasons behind. The unknown leaves an aching gap, making us ponder what could have been done to prevent the very worst from happening in the first place. Individuals today find themselves constricted by pressures that have been intrinsically or extrinsically brought upon, evoking feelings of hopelessness and helplessness that makes one resorting to ending their life in a fleeting moment of weakness.
In line with the increasing rates of suicide within the community, NuLife had held its annual Symposium titled, “I Am Fine” on 28th July 2018 at the SLV Hub with the aim of generating a much-needed awareness on suicide, the relevant interventions in store and what can be done as part of prevention. The Symposium was split into two sessions with the morning session targeted towards the general public and the afternoon session directed to professionals in the helping fields such as educators, counsellors or social workers.
The Symposium was extensively publicised in the aims of generating awareness and reaching out to a larger pool of participants through the release of two videos on our social media platforms that were made in collaboration with HappyTv. These videos were also shown during the course of the Symposium.
In close collaboration with Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), the Symposium had commenced with the head of training, Ms Wong Lai Chun educating participants on suicide awareness, prevention as well as intervention. The Symposium had concluded with a panel forum consisting of Ms Wong Lai Chun, Dr Goh Kah Hong, a medical practitioner from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Ms Evie Goh, an individual sharing her struggles with suicide ideation, and Ms Junita, NuLife committee member.
NuLife had engaged Ms Krissy Jesudason, a MediaCorp artiste who had appeared on the television series, “Tanglin” as our emcee for the Symposium. Given her expertise and experience, Ms Krissy had wonderfully directed the Symposium through the generation of an interactive and engaging atmosphere.
Participants were provided with a goodie bag that comprised of a notebook and pamphlet that were provided in kind by SOS, a bookmark, a resource card and a pen that was personalised by NuLife, a bottled water that was sponsored in kind by Jumbo Seafood Restaurant and two tidbits.
The Symposium was a resounding success with over 250 individuals partaking in it. Participants had shared the insights they had gained from the Symposium and how in consensus they felt more assured of reaching out to individuals suffering from suicide ideation and directing them to the rightful interventions in store.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our pool of donors who had allowed us to execute the Symposium impeccably. We are also truly obligated to all staff, volunteers and committee members for their hard work and efforts towards the smooth execution of the Symposium.
“Never let a stumble in the road be the end of the journey”. We hope this year’s Symposium was able to effectively resonate this message to all who had participated in it. With an enriched knowledge in the area of suicide ideation, prevention and intervention, we hope participants are able to move forth to assist individuals who feel emotionally trapped by their circumstances by directing them to relevant sources of support and letting them know they are not alone in this journey of ambivalence.
