top of page

270 results found with an empty search

  • Event Review | Online Webinar: How to Stay Resilient in the Present World

    World events have put a stop of most of CandleX’ in-person activities, but that doesn’t mean we have ground to a halt! Online support groups, re-igniting old and starting new online mental health communities, kicking off our CBT online course club, and taking part in live online events are just a few ways that we have been keeping our movement going. On 30 June CandleX Founder took part in an online webinar panel discussion on mental health awareness, “How to stay resilient in the modern world”. Organised by startup grind, the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators, this event was billed as ‘not just another coronavirus mental health event’ and featured a discussion of the specific mental health challenges facing startups and small organisations. Alongside CandleX Founder and Director Xiaojie Qin, the event featured Enoch Li, former CandleX collaborator and Managing Director of Bearapy; host Sabrina Richardson, Director of Startup Grind Beijing; and Dalida Turkovic, Founder of Beijing Mindfulness Centre. The three expert speakers shared a whole host of tips and discussed their experiences as managers and mental health experts through targeted questions, a Q&A session, and some discussion. Here’s some of their most valuable tips: 1. Look after your own mental health first It is OK for managers and leaders to take a break if they need to: In fact, during stressful or uncertain times, it could be essential, Xiaojie argued using experiences from her own career. 2. Learn from conflicts Communication is key to maintain good mental health in the workplace, and conflict may even be positive if it allows a team to move forward. 3. Be aware of burnout The WHO has identified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” and globally there is increasing recognition of this condition. Be aware of symptoms of burnout not just in the leader but in the whole team. 4. Practice mindfulness Mindfulness expert Dalida Turkovic explained how mindfulness, a technique a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, can be used as a therapeutic technique or a simple tool in the day to day. The above image is part of the “mindful inspiration” series by the Beijing Mindfulness Centre. 5. Take a break We’ve discussed the topic of self-care on this blog several times, but its importance can’t be overstated: Downtime, taking time for yourself, and leisure time were all highlighted as key mental health strategies during the event. 6. Give employees and collaborators space Startups are often led by managers who are extremely passionate about their role. But employees or collaborators may have different priorities, and recognising this and giving them space, clearly defined roles and letting them air their frustrations were techniques discussed by the experts to foster a healthy work environment. Have you joined our online course club yet? It’s starting next week – sign up with the QR code in the poster below. CandleX’s Resources Access the CandleX archive on depression and mental health Are you or a friend in a Crisis? Crisis Support CandleX on Twitter www.twitter.com/CandleX_Beijing/ Stories and writing from our community https://www.candlex.cn/blog/category/Community%20Writing Support Group Support Group Sign Ups

  • Sign Up to our Online Course Club on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

    Hey CandleXers! We are launching an online learning club where a group of us will get together to take an online course. Here are the details: Fee: Free to sign up for the online course, and 100rmb to join the club (50rmb for students and people with income less than 8000rmb/month) Time: 15 July-31 Aug 2020 Time commitment of 3 hours/week for 5 weeks. To register, scan the QR code below. We will put you in the Wechat group. A quick note from our Director, Xiaojie: Can learning about psychology improve my mental wellbeing? With that question, I started on my journey of self-learning. It was in 2014 that my obsession with psychology and mental wellbeing started. Over the years, I have acquired a great amount of knowledge that have changed my thoughts and perspectives on this world, which have made me more at peace. On top of that, I have collected tools that have helped me through my own stormy days. To register, scan the QR code below. We will put you in the WeChat group.lped me to see more clearly how my thoughts influence my behaviors, and how that influences my feelings when I feel helpless about changing how I feel, I know I have more direct access to my behaviors and thoughts that influence how I feel. Recently, as I refresh my learning on CBT, it seems like a great idea to promote the learning of this tool so people can build up resilience, gaining more knowledge on supporting people around them. If you are a teenager or young adult exploring psychology, are deciding which major to go into as you progress in school, or you are just interested in how to use CBT in your own life, then this course might be for you. Xiaojie Director of CandleX CandleX is launching an online CBT course learning club, and mentor everyone’s online learning in a more interactive and tailored way to complete learner’s online course experience. In order to make that happen, we have chosen a free CBT online course on the FutureLearn platform, “Anxiety, Depression, and CBT,” that we all start at the same time. We’ve reviewed this course and recommend it due to the following considerations: 1. It’s free to enroll 2. There are fun exercises and games that you can do 3. The course is practical and easy with lots of talking and thinking points. Here’s the link to sign up: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/anxiety-depression-and-cbt When you enroll, we will add you into the Wechat group, where we will confirm when to start. Here’s how it will work: 1. Scan the QR code to sign up on the course, pay the fee, and get added into our group: 2. Progress will be shared each day in our Wechat group, facilitated by a registered therapist. 3. Once a week, we’ll all get together in an hour-long webinar with our counsellor for a chat about how the course is going. 3. At the end of the program we will have a summary webinar with a clinical therapist who uses CBT in his sessions to further our understanding of CBT, and reflect on wat we have learnt. 4. When the course is over, we will all meet up for a Beijing-based dinner! **IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER**This course is not intended to be a self-help treatment for anyone experiencing anxiety or depression, nor can it be used to formally diagnose yourself or anyone else. What topics will be covered? Week 1 provides an introduction to how we perceive the world around us and how this relates to the Cognitive Behavioral approach to anxiety and depression. It explores how CBT can be delivered and the types of difficulties if can help. Week 2 looks at depression within a CBT framework, exploring what depression is (and is not) as well as highlighting commonly held myths and stereotypes around depression. Week 3 explores anxiety within a CBT framework. It covers the function and positive role of ‘normal’ anxiety exploring the difference between ‘normal’ anxiety and anxiety disorders. Week 4 focuses on how behaviour changes in anxiety and depression and how these changes can maintain difficulties and how CBT techniques are used in therapy to address them. Week 5 focuses on ‘cognitions’ or thoughts; specifically the types of thoughts which commonly occur in anxiety and depression, how they maintain difficulties and what CBT techniques are used in therapy to address them.

  • Now You Can Blog from Everywhere!

    We’ve made it quick and convenient for you to manage your blog from anywhere. In this blog post we’ll share the ways you can post to your Wix Blog. Blogging from Your Wix Blog Dashboard On the dashboard, you have everything you need to manage your blog in one place. You can create new posts, set categories and more. To head to your Dashboard, open the Wix Editor and click on Blog > Posts. Blogging from Your Published Site Did you know that you can blog right from your published website? After you publish your site, go to your website’s URL and login with your Wix account. There you can write and edit posts, manage comments, pin posts and more! Just click on the 3 dot icon ( ⠇) to see all the things you can do. #bloggingtips #WixBlog

  • Community Writing | CandleX Projects

    Since the very start, we have wanted CandleX to be a platform for sharing stories and advice about mental health. Throughout previous projects, such as Moodlab, where we produced a series of story on bipolar disorder and our recent Letters to Parents series, we have focused on real-life experiences and stories of people living with mental health conditions, and of young people as they learn more about themselves. Now, for, we are putting all of these projects together under an expanded umbrella project we are calling Community Writing. Mental health matters. Your stories matter. CandleX community matters. That’s why this new project will bring together all our community stories, interviews, and submitted writing, and will expand to cover more types of submitted writing too. Lots of you have been enjoying our Open Letters to Parents Series in which some brave young people share the letters they have always wanted to write to their parents. We’re expanding this to include any letter that our young writers would like to share and change the name to “Teens Open Letter, part of Community Writing”. It also includes community interviews on topics related to mental health: "My Stories, My Emotions"(originally named “My Depression, My Story”), a series of first-person accounts of living with mental illness in Beijing, and other community-submitted stories about mental health. To see the stories, keep following our WeChat account or check out the new tab on our website: www.candlex.cn Do you have a story to tell that could inspire, educate, or engage our Beijing-based audience? Get in touch and send us writing by e-mail or WeChat. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @CandleX_Beijing to read more about what we get up to! #communitywriting #teens #depression #mentalhealth

  • Joel Lewin on Addiction,Anxiety and CBT|My Story with Depression

    This week, we are reposting a blog from Joel Lewin, a journalist turned counselor and recovering addict. This piece was originally posted on https://recovereads.com/2019/01/08/mind-reading-screws-you-up-stop/ when the author was in recovery for heroin addiction. To read more from Joel, tap “Read more” below. I was in a meeting. It was a brief, informal meeting, a get-to-know-you meeting with an editor at a job I’d just started. He asked me a friendly question about Russia because we’d both spent time there. Before I began to answer, there was an explosion of thoughts in my head. Nothing to do with Russia. All to do with me, or more specifically what this guy would think of me as a result of this response I was yet to even formulate, let alone utter. “You're going to say something stupid,” I said to myself, “You’re going to humiliate yourself… he’s going to think you’re stupid… he already thinks you’re stupid…just look at the way he’s looking at you… “what’s wrong with this guy?” he is thinking to himself.” It was quite a cacophony, and it only got louder as I began to speak. Then I felt my heart racing. That’s when shit got real. That was always when shit got real when I felt the little guy accelerate to an alarming pace. And now we have a secondary disturbance. I start saying to myself, “I’m so anxious… I shouldn’t be anxious… he can see I’m anxious… [has he got a heart rate monitor in his eyes?] He thinksI’m weak and weird for being anxious”. The heartbeats harder. Sweat on my back. “Now I’ve blown it…” [what was there to blow?? It’s a friendly chat!] “He can see I’m noteworthy of this job. He’s wondering how the hell I got it in the first place. They can all see I’m a nutcase. I’m going to be fired before I’ve even started.” My heart hammered even harder, and the harder he hammered the more negative the thoughts were projecting into this editor’s mind became. The distress was both physical and psychological. I felt an overwhelming urge to escape. *** In reality, nothing much had happened. Just a conversation, maybe a little bit disjointed, but conversations often are. But after that meeting, I felt despair. I felt hopeless. I had stopped using drugs for a few weeks before starting that job because it meant a lot to me and I wanted to do well. “I thought things were supposed to get better without drugs!” I said to myself afterward. But that excruciating anxiety and the ensuing despair lead me back to the only coping mechanism (I thought) I could rely on- drugs. I resolved to never enter that office again without enough opiates to ensure I was insulated from those experiences. It may sound ridiculous, and the thought process is ridiculous looking back. But when you're in it it’s powerful and it’s painful and it’s overwhelming. *** Cognitive Behavioural Therapy says that it’s not external events that cause our feelings, but rather our thoughts and beliefs about those events. So by changing our thoughts, we can change our feelings. The situation above is an example of mind-reading, one of a number of cognitive distortions that can warp the way we perceive things. These distortions tend to reinforce negative thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves, others and the world. When engaging in mind-reading we jump to conclusions about what other people are thinking and feeling with little or no evidence. Mind-reading is a dangerous cognitive distortion. It can cause social anxiety when we take our own feelings of self-doubt and project them onto others, assuming they’re thinking the same things about us, further smashing our self-worth. It can ruin relationships. For example, your partner is late to meet you for dinner. You think that he’s thinking he’s tired of you and you’re not worth it. You feel angry and instigate an argument. Really he was just busy at work. It is impossible to ever truly know and fully understand what someone else is thinking. They probably don’t even really know themselves. The best we can do is interpret the imperfect signals conveyed through their words, tone and body language. This process is especially unreliable when your mind is rattled by strong emotion and the unfamiliar experience of sobriety. Mind-reading is a minefield in the early days of recovery. So what can you do about it? Awareness is the first step. When you’re anxious and you feel you’re being judged, or you're angry and you feel someone’s behavior is a personal attack, take a step back and become aware of your thinking. Recognizing these thoughts are easier said than done. Sometimes they come so automatically spark intense emotional reactions so rapidly that we hardly notice them mediating between the event and the emotions. When you are able to identify your mind-reading, begin to interrogate the thoughts. How realistic are they? What’s the evidence for and against them? When we start to see that thoughts are just guesses, they become less powerful and controlling. They yield to questioning more readily and it becomes easier to let go of the unhelpful ones. Explore other possibilities. Say, for example, you arrive at work, and you smile at your boss but he just ignores you and walks straight past. You think, “He’s pissed-off with me. He thinks I’m crap at my job.” Fear and despondency set in. But if you look at the other possibilities, “He might be stressed out with a lot on his mind,” you aren’t lumped with the same emotional consequences. You probably won't even remember it in five minutes. I wish I could go back and help my younger self understand mind reading and smash those irrational beliefs. It might have saved me a lot of pain, years of addiction. So yeah, change your thoughts to change your feelings. Thanks for reading our latest blog! - CandleX #mystorywithdepression #mentalhealth #depression #bipolardisorder #psychologicalsupport #anxiety #suicideprevention

  • Event Review | Goethe's Workshop on Initial Understanding about Depression

    In Nov 2019, we provided two basic mental health workshops to Goethe-Institut China for their employees. The presentation had four parts, how to distinguish between depression and being in a bad mood, the current situation of depression, self-care, and how to look after others. In the Haidian office, Xiaojie also used case studies to illustrate the key content to make it more digestible for the audience. Starting with sharing their own perception towards being in a bad mood, people from the Goethe-Institut were introduced with the symptoms of depression, like reduced energy, and the influence of depression such as: Reduced energy, feeling easily fatigued Disturbance in sleep pattern Unexplained physical symptoms Depressed mood or frequent crying Feelings of hopelessness Social isolation, feeling detached from others Withdrawal from work Reduced confidence or self-esteem Neglecting duties, such as homework, housework Thoughts of suicide or self-harm At the same time, Xiaojie also corrected some common myths about depression and clarified the facts, which was what truly matters. Myths: Even if depression is an illness, it cannot be treated the way other illnesses can. Depression is one's own creation or fault. If a person is depressed, there has to be an external factor bothering him. Once depressed, a person remains depressed throughout his/her life. Facts: Depression is a treatable disorder. Treatments can include therapy, counseling, and medications. The sufferers should not be blamed for the illness. There can be many causes. Chemical changes in the brain can lead to depression without any external precipitating factor. In most cases, depression lasts for a limited period. Adequate treatments lead to complete resolution of symptoms and the person can return to a normal state of activity and health. After learning the basic knowledge of depression, they did online DASS-21 to simply get to know about their emotion levels, which helped them to reveal potential problems and to take further steps to cope with them. Then, Xiaojie presented some important skills that are useful for people to help themselves if they find themselves depressed and to care for other people around who are suffering from depression. According to different degrees of depression, different strategies should be applied in order to effectively help people with depression, to reduce the influence of depression. In terms of taking care of people with depression, the first thing to be check should be the closeness of the relationship, which helps us to know our boundaries and effectiveness in terms of supporting others. People need to listen to the person and not avoid the topic, while avoiding using logic to fight with emotions and not blindly giving advice. Xiaojie also provided some professional helplines in case anyone met an emergency situation but did not know what to do. The presentation aroused some reflections of people in Goethe-Institut and made them pose many doubts and questions, which showed their interest in knowing more about this topic. We ended the workshop with the short Q&A part. We believe that the workshop must have helped them to take the first step of learning about mental issues. This experience was proven to be an enriching one and one CandleX would keep on providing with employees in the future. CandleX’s Resources Are you or a friend in a Crisis? Crisis Support Your questions on mental health | CandleX Classroom https://www.candlex.cn/classroom Depression stories from our community members (both adults and teens) CandleX Column | Community Writing https://www.candlex.cn/community-writing Pretreatment CandleX Wechat Groups all ages, add our admin: niama_elazzab for 15-22 year old, add our admin:  amaraprenderyya Peer Support Group biweekly meetings and biweekly hangout

  • Event | Lived Experiences, Panel Discussion

    In China, by the end of 2019, nearly 140,000 people would die by suicide [1]. In China, suicide is the fifth leading cause of death and accounts for over one-quarter of suicides worldwide. In Beijing, a city estimated to have 22 million people, this means that around 2100 die by suicide each year. Therefore, on average, six people complete suicide each day in Beijing (if calculated with the same suicide rate (9.7 per 100,000 people). Yet, we do not talk about it. CandleX is teaming up with BARE for a panel discussion on mental health at Crossboundaries in Sanlitun with the intention to reduce stigma (which prevents most from seeking support), to offer intervention tools for oneself and others, and to bring this topic to our Beijing community. Our Panelists We have invited two community members, one from our CandleX Support Group, and one from the Beijing community, to talk about their lived, first-hand experiences. We would like to thank them for their openness and kindness to speak about it, so together as a community, we are able to help others. Xiaojie, Director/Founder of CandleX, and facilitator of the peer support group since 2015 will join the panel to share her experiences working with people in crisis from the psychosocial support aspect. Psychologist, Dr. Hu Bojun, from United Family, will also join the panel to complete the discussion from a clinical perspective. The event will be moderated by Helena from BARE. We have 60 mins for panel discussion and 30 mins for Q&A. Event Info Location: Crossboundaries, Sanlitun, Beijing (next to Home Plate) Ticket: - pre-sale 120 rmb (by 13th October), 150 rmb at the door - pre-sale 60 rmb (by 13th October), 80 rmb at the door (for those making less than 8000rmb/month) - Time: registration is 7:00-7:15 pm, panel discussion: 7:30-9:00 pm Note: due to the nature of the topic and respect for people on the panel, we will close the door at 7:25 pm so we can start on time without distraction Registration: scan the QR code below, or click on “read more” This panel discussion is our effort to create a necessary workforce, a foundation, based on “A Stepped Care Model for Suicide Care” We’d like to invite you to read these articles from our community and watch videos CandleX produced recently to bring awareness to suicide prevention. In the Moment of Blur | Sam's Story with Depression The Fine Line between Life and Death l Xiaojie's poem Suicide Prevention, CandleX BJ (Video) Signs | Suicide Prevention (video) If you know anyone that is struggling with depression or severe stress, you can encourage them to go to our CandleX Mental Health Peer Support Group. To learn more about the support group, you can take a look at our peer support review reports from the past few years. About BARE BARE is a safe space for people to be their true selves and relate to each other in order to find the support they need to cope with the challenges of the modern world. BARE allows people to remove their protective armor, share their behind-the-scenes, and encourage them to build meaningful relationships, reminding them they are not alone. We hope BARE will be the first step in fostering a broader culture of strength through vulnerability. Special thanks to Crossboundaries for the venue support References: 1. http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/suicide-rate-by-country/ CandleX’s Resources Are you or a friend in a Crisis? Crisis Support Your questions on mental health | CandleX Classroom https://www.candlex.cn/classroom Depression stories from our community members (both adults and teens) CandleX Column | Community Writing https://www.candlex.cn/community-writing Pretreatment CandleX Wechat Groups all ages, add our admin: niama_elazzab for 15-22 year old, add our admin: amaraprenderyya Peer Support Group biweekly meetings and biweekly hangout

  • Event review | Coping Strategies for Anxiety | 21 June

    Fresh off our successful photo exhibit at Camera Stylo, CandleX’ popular series of workshops on Professional Anxiety is back! Last month our Texas-born superstar counsellor Kindall gave another workshop on stress at work, this time in collaboration with BARE and held at WeWork Dongdaqiao. In case you haven’t made it to one of her workshops yet, here are more tips on how to deal with professional anxiety. 1. Identify your personal motivations What motivates you? Working hard every day towards goals you aren’t even sure you want to achieve would stress anybody out. So identifying your personal motivations in your career is the first step towards understanding work anxiety. 2. Know that burnout is real Burnout is recognized by the American Medical Association as ‘a major public health problem’. Kindall encouraged participants to recognise the signs of burnout in themselves and others and to understand some of the root causes of the issue. 3. Know how to respond to your specific work stressors Reflect upon and record specific incidents that have caused you stress at work in the past. Kindall explained that much anxiety that we experienced comes from specific stressors that may be exacerbated by negative thinking. What kind of situation have you responded badly to in the past? How did it make you feel? What could you have done differently? 4. Set goals to change your thinking As much as it’s tempting, absolutely no good will come from getting angry and frustrated when faced with external pressures, unfair situations or difficult choices at work. Setting realistic goals to respond to stressors differently and change your thinking is possible: but it’s not easy. Ask yourself “What can I do to change my own situation?” 5. It’s all about balance, baby Finding balance at work and in your personal life is key to reducing anxiety. But what this means could differ widely to difference people, according to Kindall. A good way to start is to consider what potentially unhealthy habits you pick up in your work environment, and make a conscious effort to find complementing activities in your personal life. Sat down at a desk all day at work? Take up aerobic exercise like running or swimming. Inundated by calls, meetings and conversations with colleagues all day? Make sure you schedule some time for yourself. 6. Learn assertive communication to get your needs met If you feel like your concerns or queries aren’t being heard, a feeling of helplessness might lead to anxiety at work. Kindall explained that you can’t change a bad boss or an insensitive coworker,but you can change your communication style by clearly expressing your emotions, opinions and wants in the same assertive way you might argue your case in professional matters. 7. Keep calm If you find yourself often overwhelmed by anxious, racing thoughts, try to schedule in some time every day for deep relaxation. It doesn’t have to be a two-hour expensive yoga class or a meditation session on a mountaintop – deep relaxation can be anything that slows your breathing, your body and your thoughts right down. About the counsellor A Licensed Professional Counselor, Professional School Counselor and National Certified Counselor in her native USA, Kindal C. Tyson has been working in the mental health field for four years, specializing in culturally sensitive, ethical counselling for adults, and has more than a decade of experience as a Professional Children’s Counselor and educator. For more about Kindall, the counsellor for this workshop, add her on wechat at Therapist_Abroad or follow her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/aspire_counsellingwell/ Did you find this helpful? Keep following our account for more tips and tricks, information and events about mental health in Beijing. Do you have an idea for a workshop, a project or a campaign? E-mail us at stories@candlex.cn CandleX is fundraising! Scan the QR code below to donate to our bipolar book project raising money to support the Beijing mental health community. #events #keyskills #workshop #eventreview #community #communication

  • 3rd Year Report | Mental Health Peer Support Group

    Our key project, mental health peer support group has been running for 3 years now. Today’s article, we want to give you an insight of the demographics with the intention to bring awareness and understanding of mental health to greater audiences. As you might already know, the first support group held its first session on 27th October, 2015 and is held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Since starting the support group, we have had over 112 attendees! The attendees were primarily women (63%) and between 26-36 years old (56%). It seems that most of our participants wither came from China or North America, followed by Europe. We did have some participants from Africa, South America, and Oceana too! Are our participants single or in a relationship? Well, it seems that a majority of us were single (65%). Out of the non-Chinese who attended the support groups, 48% lived in China for less than 1 year, 33% lived in China for 1-5 years, and 14% had lived in China for more than ten years! Now, let’s get into mental health aspects. Keep in mind that the results from the mania and anxiety are based off one year of data, but rest are based off of two years. Out of our attendees, 27% reported mild depression, 47% reported moderate depression, and 14% reported serious depression. 4% of our attendees reported depression along with symptoms of anxiety, depression, or mania. These are self reported statistics, and don’t necessarily have a medical diagnosis. Mania was reported in 8% of our attendees, although 54% being unsure if they were experiencing mania. Anxiety was reported in 85% of our total attendees. Almost half (49%) of our attendees have never taken medication. Out of the 51% of attendees who had taken medication, 27% were still currently taking medication. As we know, life events are often related with our current mental health status. Out of our participants, 31% believed that at least one even or situation related to their mental health situation and 69% report more than one sources of pressure. A whopping 86% of attendees reported relationship issues, comprised of 31% with romantic partnership problems, 30% with family problems, and 23% with friendship problems. Over ¾ of the attendees feel that they do not have adequate support, like having friends or family that understand them or can listen to them. Our participants are a majority expat or new to Beijing, so it might be unsurprising that 27% reported that they were facing major changes in their life, including relocation, graduation, cultural adjustments, or a new job. 25% reported job related issues and 18% felt that their career was stagnant. Other issues that were reported included physical illness, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Living in Beijing can be daunting. If you aren’t Chinese, you may face the language and cultural barriers. Even if you are Chinese and understand the language, it is difficult to feel misunderstood or like you don’t have an outlet. That is why Candlex is here. Being a resource for people who are going through the same mental anguish that we are going through is what keeps us motivated. #mentalhealth #depression #bipolardisorder #Beijing #China #psychosocialsupport #peersupport

  • Bearapy’s new book | Recommendation

    In the spirit of World Mental Health Day in Oct, our long-time partner, Bearapy, published a book to mitigate the gendered stigma surrounding mental health. Facing mental wellbeing is a challenging task in itself, but imagine having to tackle it from an even more disadvantaged position? Though many may not realize or be willing to admit, it is more taboo for men to open up about their feelings and emotions as compared to women. Part of this is due to cultural reasons, but it is something we can work together, as a community, to change. Sharing stories about those that have struggled or are struggling with mental health is the first step to acceptance. This book provides the perfect example for this. This book includes a collection of personal stories shared by men in China. Knowing that other people out there share similar troubles as you do makes each challenge appear less daunting, and makes it just a little easier to face. Besides personal anecdotes, the book also emphasizes the importance of sustaining a healthy lifestyle. Eating well, eating on time; sleeping more, sleeping on time. These are basic steps to improving our mental wellbeing that are often overlooked by those who are overly driven towards work and success. So, what are you waiting for? Click here to read the book: https://view.joomag.com/noch-noch-going-mental-men-do-get-it-going-mental-men-do-get-it/0390556001526482910?short #reading #mentalhealth #mentalhealthstory #Bearapy

  • Event Review | Parent Workshop on Mental Health

    As we approach the end of summer, we will be saying our farewells to another generation of high school students leaving Beijing to study abroad. Though many have taken notice of the difficult transition from going to high school in one’s hometown to living independently in a country 7000km away, we often overlook that it is an equally, if not more, challenging transition from the parents’ perspective too. In collaboration ESC, a college counselling firm, CandleX held a Parent Support Workshop on June 24 2018, aimed to address advice on how to support your children for when they leave college and how to deal with it as a parent, too. After the workshop, parents had the opportunity to ask our speaker specific questions and also to discover local resources for continuing their education in mental health development. This event is only one of the many CandleX organizes. We pride ourselves in our proactive outreach in the local Beijing community. One of the ways in which we like to do so is by organizing and facilitating workshops for different community groups. So, if you have any questions regarding emotional support and guidance, or any interest in collaborating with CandleX in organizing mental-health-related events, do not hesitate to reach out to us via our email (info@candlex.cn) or visiting our website for more information (www.candlex.cn). CandleX’s Resources Read CandleX psychoeducation articles to learn essential knowledge on depression CandleX Classroom https://www.candlex.cn/classroom Depression stories from our community members CandleX Column | My Story with Depression https://www.candlex.cn/my-story-with-depression A CandleX production on Depression The Tiny Little Box | A Documentary on Depression Bipolar Disorder Campaign MoodLab Book #B Support Group Support Group Sign Ups Support Group: Interview with the Beijinger

bottom of page