Nha Trang, Vietnam 27th May 2017 Nha Trang, Vietnam It is a special day today. I have lived 3 more years. I’ve had 3 more years to witness the miracle that life is. Winter in Beijing strips everything down. I saw the leaves leaving the tree. The trunks stand alone in the frozen cold winter. It looks dead, But you know life will return when spring comes. I didn't know I would come back. 3 years ago, during my epic depressive episode, My very much alive body was looking at my d

I have secret. I have called a depression support line before. It was one of those moments that I felt the utmost despair that depression can bring. I could only imagine the person on the other side of the phone. I could talk to him, and I knew I was not burdening him. When I met Kate, when she interviewed to apply for a volunteer position with CandleX, I was intrigued by her experience as a mental health support line volunteer. Here is her reflection about providing help to

11pm at the ticket desk for CandleX’s 2 Year Birthday Party It was packed! Streams of people jammed at the ticket desk to see some of the best bands in town performing. At one point, people were even standing on the stair case to watch below since the floor was completely full! Check out the video below for our 2 year anniversary party. CandleX turned 2 on the 1st of April, 2017. If you are watching from within China, please click here to watch. What a special day for us! And

What does bipolar disorder have to do with art, body movement, psychosocial education, or, more directly, your life? We don’t often think of those suffering in silence around us, but mental health issues, such as bipolar disorder – mood swings from hyper and manic activity to depressed states of helplessness – affect more people than we realize. To raise awareness in the community, CandleX, a Beijing based NGO on mental health, created a campaign called MoodlaB, which consist

On 20th May 2017, CandleX ran a mental health workshop for Chinese students who are soon to go to top universities in the USA. It’s reported that around 450,000 Chinese went overseas for education in 2014 (2015年出国留学发展状况调查报告，2015). Many are teenagers that are moving overseas for the first time in their life, at the stage of transitioning into their early adult life. Although it’s exciting, many have been experiencing tough times, especially their first year in school in a fore

There’s a seed living in the heart of a jungle. When the seed meets water, sunshine, air and it grows into a tree; I often say that my own experience with mental health is that seed. When I see the darkness in other people’s heart, it echoes and turns into tears of water, the warmth I feel from people through my darkest time turns into sunshine, and the support that I get from people turns into air. So just like that, the seed sprouted. I named it CandleX. It’s always the tre