How can young people build up their mental health and cope with societal pressures while adulting?

Synopsis: Every first Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

We all know that adulting is not easy, but why is adulting hitting the mental health of young people so much these days? ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo explores this with two guests in this episode. 

They are: 

Ms Lee Yi Ping, the programme lead and principal Case Manager at Chat, Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health in Singapore. This service by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) serves as a first-stop touchpoint for young people seeking mental health support. 

Mr Delane Lim, the founder and executive director of the charity Character & Leadership Academy, which runs youth development, mental wellness, and suicide prevention programmes for young people. Mr Lim himself contemplated suicide at 25 and he knows just how tough adulting can be. 

They discuss what one can do to manage the challenges that adulting brings, whether it is related to identity, work or relationships.

Ms Lee and Mr Lim also share their own experiences. 

This episode was recorded live - and filmed in front of a live audience - at The Projector at Golden Mile Tower, as part of the ST Podcast Live! Sessions celebrating 180 years of The Straits Times in 2025.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:35 Is adulting harder today than it was in the past? 

5:45 Managing the pressure of "having it all" by a certain age

10:55 Delane’s brush with suicide at 25

16:28 Yi Ping on feeling burnout 

19:13 Navigating social media safely

22:20 Advice to their younger selves

Check out ST's new series No Health Without Mental Health: https://str.sg/mentalhealthmatters

Read Joyce Teo's stories: https://str.sg/JbxN

Host: Joyce Teo ([email protected])

Produced and edited by: Amirul Karim

Executive producers: Ernest Luis and Lynda Hong

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