As questions surrounding mental health education and support take centrestage across Asia, secondary schools in Singapore are raising awareness on the topic through a unique virtual reality (VR) experience.
Although many reports cite the negative impact of technology on young minds, such as cyberbullying and unhealthy addictions, non-profit organisation Touch Community Services is using it for good. They decided to use VR to educate students on mental health as they found it to be more effective than other learning methods.
Students first don a VR headset and take on the persona of a virtual character – for eg a girl suffering from depression – and listen to her inner thoughts for about two minutes. Educators and the program’s staff then facilitate sessions where students discuss how they feel about being “in the shoes” of someone with a mental health condition like depression.
About 900 students from eight secondary schools have participated in the program so far. Touch aims to help students learn about mental health through games and classroom learning, reported The Straits Times.
The program will tackle stigma against mental illness that persists among Singapore students. When surveyed by the Institute of Mental Health, secondary students used words like “crazy”, “weird”, “stupid” and “dangerous” to de describe mental illness.
Over half of the respondents also said that they would be “very embarrassed” if they were diagnosed with a mental illness. Additionally, around one in three students believed their friends would perceive them as “weak” if they had a mental illness.
Besides such educational campaigns, the Ministry of Education said that there are existing mental health programs in schools which raise awareness of mental illness and encourage help-seeking behaviour.