Ep 71: Surviving A Suicide Attempt & Thriving | Sabrina Ooi (Co-Founder, Calm Collective Asia)

WARNING: This episode may have some trigger
points as we talk about things like depression, suicide and
death. 


Sabrina Ooi is the co-founder and CEO of Calm Collective Asia - a
community that was established during Singapore’s first circuit
breaker to talk about all things mental health in Asia.


To understand how Sabrina ended up establishing Calm Collective
Asia, it’s necessary to dive into her story. She shares why she
felt like an imposter while studying at Raffles Girls’ School
(Singapore’s top school), how she started DJing for the likes of
Dior & Rolls Royce, getting through debilitating depressive
episodes since the age of 11, how she was initially misdiagnosed
as being depressive only to discover that she was bipolar, being
“arrested” for attempting to end her life and her journey to
recovery. 


This is STIMY’s first mental health episode and I felt that
Sabrina’s story is so incredibly powerful and important. It is
time to destigmatise discussions around mental health and I hope
that this episode contributes a little to that ongoing
conversation, particularly in Asia.  


Highlights:


3:41 Being told by her mum to be “average”

5:23 Having her first depressive episode at age 11

12:33 How her DJ career began 

17:35 Triggers for her depressive episodes

21:59 Going for therapy

23:55 Not going for private practice

25:05 Having suicidal thoughts

27:36 Taking antidepressants 

29:52 Depression v Bipolar

31:49 Survive, Live and Thrive

35:11 Journey to recovery

36:52 “How I went from Leaving to Living”

42:36 Starting Calm Collective Asia

47:24 The vision

51:13 Symptoms to look out for

52:31 How to find the right therapist






Show notes:
www.sothisismywhy.com/71                


  Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter:
https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 


🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 


Please leave a review & rating here! -
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442