YSE Series: Youth Action Challenge S2 Alumni Showcase — Calm Collective Asia
Discussions regarding mental health are slowly but steadily becoming less of a taboo and going through a gradual shift of being normalised. We owe this change to all the individuals and organisations that have bravely come to the forefront to start conversations around mental health, with many of them sharing their own vulnerability and personal stories with the world. To showcase the role startups are playing to further this cause, we met with Sabrina Ooi, Co-Founder of Calm Collective Asia — an online community that creates events and content around mental health in Asia with the aim to normalise the conversation.
Sabrina Ooi shared how Calm Collective Asia is shaping the perception of mental health in Singapore and the region, the biggest accomplishments of Calm Collective Asia so far, and how social entrepreneurs need to protect their own mental health.
What urged you to start Calm Collective Asia and how did you and the team come together to make it a reality?
Sabrina Ooi: My motivation behind starting Calm Collective Asia came from my personal experiences: I have lost a few friends to suicide, and I live with a mental health condition: bipolar disorder. I have been on the road to recovery since 2016 and the fact that I have been able to manage my daily life with the condition gave me the courage and motivation to share my learnings with other people.
I know the other two Co-Founders, Alyssa Reinoso and Luqman Mohamed, from very different parts of my life. Luqman was a friend from a course on web development and through a friend, I know Alyssa and her late husband, Tyler who, unfortunately, committed suicide. During the lockdown in Singapore last year, I called them both and pitched the idea of creating a webinar series on helping people cope mentally. Since then, we have continued to build up Calm Collective Asia, organising talks, building partnerships, and growing our community on social media.
How is Calm Collective Asia shaping the perception of mental health in Singapore and the region in general?
Sabrina Ooi: With the onset of the pandemic, I believe a lot more people and organisations have realised the importance of mental health. What makes Calm Collective Asia unique is that we can bring our expertise from our own lived experiences to the conversations that we are hosting and the content we create, and we are therefore able to handle this topic in a much more empathetic way. The impact of this has been significant and we are seeing our audience and their engagement grows both within Singapore and in the region. In total, we have had over 30,000 viewers of our talks across all our channels.
Tell us about your Youth Action Challenge (YAC) Season 2 experience.
Sabrina Ooi: We joined the programme because we thought it would be a good way to connect and learn from key people in both the social and mental health space. We liked that it is a holistic programme that does not just focus on social impact but also integrates important players from other sectors. It was a great opportunity for us to tap into very useful resources.
The funding allocated to our team through the YAC programme and from the Youth Co:Lab programme, through CVC Capital Partners, will most definitely allow us to continue to create the right content and run the events that we want in order to generate the desired impact on society.
What are you most proud of as a team amongst everything that you have done at Calm Collective Asia?
Sabrina Ooi: First, knowing that we are making a difference with the work that we are doing and that we are getting closer to fulfilling the mission of normalizing the conversation on mental health in this part of the world. Second, growing our audience and seeing them engaged with our content, and growing our community of speakers. We have had over 40 speakers so far and it has been really encouraging hearing them share their personal stories openly. Third, receiving media features for our work. We have been featured both in local and regional news and most prominently in an article in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.
Finally, we are very humbled yet proud about the feedback we receive from our audience. For example, one of our viewers recently wrote to us: “I happen to be supporting a friend through depression now. Thank you guys for opening up this space!”
What is next for Calm Collective Asia?
Sabrina Ooi: The National Youth Council and Youth Co:Lab Singapore are empowering us to create more relevant content for the Asian community and beyond. We will be launching a Podcast, creating some videos as well this year and we will also be launching our summit this coming November. Our next focus is to explore how Calm Collective Asia can become a sustainable venture. In terms of partnerships, we have already had the privilege to work with a couple of government organisations and companies to co-create mental health programmes, and we want to build on that.
What advice would you provide to budding social entrepreneurs in Singapore and the region?
Sabrina Ooi: As an entrepreneur, you have signed up for a challenging journey ahead as the path is not a defined one. I think it is absolutely crucial to take care of your own mental health by getting enough rest, and having people you can turn to who can support you when you’re down (I see my therapist every month!). You can’t pour from an empty cup!
How do you see the mental health solutions shaping up in general and in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in particular?
Sabrina Ooi: There are definitely a lot more mental health solutions available now and there will be more to come, and all of this increased activity is definitely very encouraging... However, stigma still exists, and we still have a long way to go to cultivate empathy towards the subject of mental health. While the pandemic has made individuals and corporations much more attuned to mental health needs, we are still learning about how to use and embrace the solutions presented to us., I am looking forward to a future where every person and organisation takes a proactive approach in mental health management, so we can all lead happier and healthier lives.
This blog is part of our Youth Social Entrepreneurship (YSE) Series, where we showcase the voice and experience of different stakeholders in the social innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Singapore.
About Youth Action Challenge (YAC)
The YAC provides an opportunity for youth to turn their ideas into reality through curated workshops and guidance from experienced industry professionals. The YAC is a key thrust of the SG Youth Action Plan (SG YAP), organised by the National Youth Council in partnership with UNDP and the Citi Foundation in Singapore through their Youth Co:Lab initiative.
YAC Season 3 will be happening from Oct 2021 to Jan 2022.
YAC has extended the deadline for applications! Apply by Sept 20th via: https://youthactionplan.sg/YACSeason3/
About Youth Co:Lab
Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth, so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. To learn more about the Youth Co: Lab, visit: https://www.youthcolab.org/
