Warning: This article contains frank discussion of suicide and mental illness which some readers may find disturbing. Name: Hellen (we have changed the interviewee’s name for anonymity) Country of Origin: Australia Occupation: Education Time in Beijing: 2016-now (2019) When were you first diagnosed with depression and how did it impact your early life? Mental health issues of some form or another have run in my family for several generations. My parents, grandparents and 11 o

Throughout September and October, in recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 and the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Day on October 10, CandleX focused on suicide prevention, a complex and serious issue. It is mind-boggling to think that on average six people completed suicide today in Beijing, and six people yesterday, six the day before that, and there will be another six die by suicide tomorrow. By the end of 2019, nearly 140,000 people

You are in China. You have depression. You feel all alone. You want to check out. I don’t know who you are. But I know what you are going through, because I have been there. You may think nobody cares, but I do. . On this year’s World Suicide Prevention day (9/10), I wrote this poem for those… whose light is dimmed by depression, for those who feel so much pain and despair, and are ready to go, for those whose life hangs by a string and nobody knows. I hope this poem can brin

September 10th marks World Suicide Prevention Day, a global awareness raising event observed to honour commitment and action to preventing suicide. Last year in Beijing, CandleX Founder Xiaojie and Peer Support Group Project Coordinator Alice Liu commemorate this important day for mental health awareness and depression awareness with an appearance on an English speaking radio show, Touch Beijing 感受北京, online and on AM774/FM 92.3, on 10th September 2018. Hosts Chloe and Kat (b