All over the world, there is a call to create awareness and stamp out the stigma of mental illness. But what does it mean for me, personally?

Almost a year ago, I sat in the ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY department of IMH (Institute of Mental Health) with a friend.
It was not a case of violence, but her family was not able to cope with her mental state. They could not handle her irrational behaviour. And they were at a loss as to how to persuade her to go to the hospital "for a rest".

Her mum desperately needed help.
She was embarrassed to have to ask an outsider to get her daughter to hospital.

There at the A&E, I saw a young mother who was being admitted, too. She was singing the National Anthem with great gusto, while her worn-out husband was tending to their young son.

Suddenly, memories of an old aunt who had a history of schizophrenia came to my mind.
She was a single mum who had to bring up two kids. How it must have been traumatic for her and the children to have her going in and out of Woodbridge Hospital (now IMH) for years until she was declared 'burnt-out'!

As my thoughts churned, something stirred within me.

IMH ......Inspiring Mothers with Hope !!!

Mothers who have mental illness need to build their lives again with strength and support, courage and confidence, worth and wholeness.

So do mothers with kids who suffer from mental illness.
They need to have breakthroughs in their own lives so they can manage their kids and move on from their guilt and shame, despair and discouragement, lostness and aloneness.


There is a walkathon along Orchard Road on 8th Oct 2006 in conjunction with World Mental Health Day.....
but who will walk along life's road with these mothers every day ???