SINGAPORE - As a peer support leader at Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, Neyati Umamaheswar noticed that many of her peers were facing mental health struggles as a result of stress in school, at home or elsewhere.
To help them, she started Minds Untangled, an initiative aimed at educating young people about mental health issues, in 2022 when she was 15 years old.
Through posts on its Instagram and TikTok accounts, the volunteer-run group hopes to create awareness of conditions such as bipolar disorder and general anxiety disorder.
“We know a lot of people can’t really afford therapists or counsellors at a young age, so we want to focus on giving them the right information on how they can help themselves,” said Neyati, now 17 and studying at Victoria Junior College (VJC).
The group is now looking at widening its reach by working with other schools besides VJC for outreach efforts, and even expanding internationally.
For her efforts, Neyati was among 53 young people from 24 schools recognised at the second Singapore Silent Heroes Student Awards ceremony on July 27.
Organised by non-profit organisation Civilians Association Singapore (CAS), the awards celebrate the contributions of young people from primary and secondary schools and junior colleges here who have demonstrated compassion and dedication to their communities.
Siblings Lee Jun Kai, 11, and Lee Jia Ying, 10, from Ai Tong School also received the award.
In 2021, the brother and sister, supported by their parents, started Little But Loud.
It is an initiative which saw the siblings conducting online reading sessions for children who are beneficiaries of family service centres (FSCs), in addition to providing reading packages – comprising books as well as art and crafts materials – to the centres.
The reading sessions were later conducted in-person at the FSCs together with their parents and younger brother Jun Yi, seven.
Little But Loud also started FibreRevive, a movement to raise awareness of textile waste through workshops in Toa Payoh West, and worked with social enterprise Cloop to help deploy a textile recycling bin in the area in April 2024.
“Volunteering together as a family is also a great way for us to bond and, at the same time, bring joy to others,” said Jun Kai.
At the event held at the HDB Hub Auditorium, Mr M.P. Sellvem, CAS president and chairman of the Singapore Silent Heroes Movement, said: “As we celebrate these young changemakers, we also acknowledge the vital role they play in shaping a more caring and inclusive society for the future.”
Mr Alvin Chow, chairman of the Singapore Silent Heroes Student Awards, added that schools play a critical role in creating a positive learning environment that allows the students to develop deeper social and civic consciousness.
Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang, who attended the event, said the character of the award recipients shines through, along with the values that they hold.
Addressing them, Ms Gan said: “Your compassion, empathy and altruism inspire us. You remind us that kindness is a lesson worth learning and relearning.”
