SFYC Youth Leadership Program
Join us on a 4-day transformative journey with the Short Film Youth Competition (SFYC) in 2024! This year, we’re going beyond the competition to offer a unique Youth Leadership Program (sponsored by NYC) aimed at nurturing your talent and fostering resilience. Our program, “Expanding Horizons Beyond the Reel,” is designed to support your artistic growth and mental well-being, ensuring you’re equipped to thrive both on and off the screen.
Thank you for your support and interest. Due to the overwhelming interest for this program, we have to close registrations early.
Do sign up for our mailing list to be kept up to date on MHFFS news & updates.
The venue will be disclosed upon confirmation of your registration. (It is in the CBD)
What is the Youth Leadership Program ?
Our Youth Leadership Program is here to identify and cultivate the leadership qualities in youth volunteers and youth filmmakers. Especially to cultivate the leader to be Mental health Informed. Get ready for mentorship, professional growth opportunities, and a chance to lead initiatives within the SFYC community. We believe in you, and we’re investing in your future as the leaders of tomorrow.
Connect with industry professionals and mental health experts through our extensive partnerships. By tapping into these networks, you’ll gain unparalleled opportunities to expand your social support and social capital. Engage with older cohorts of filmmakers, build lasting relationships, and become part of a vibrant ecosystem that nurtures both artistic and holistic well-being.
Engage directly with industry experts through our interactive group mentorship sessions. This is your chance to participate in Q&A sessions where you can ask professionals about their career journeys, the challenges they faced, and how they achieved their success. Gain valuable insights into the industry, learn from their experiences, and get practical advice on how to navigate your own path. Additionally, these sessions offer a unique opportunity to network with seasoned professionals and build connections that can support your growth and development.
What will you learn ?
- Mental Health Awareness Talk 101,
- Suicide Prevention
- Resillence Training:
In partnership with Caring for Life, we’re offering vital suicide prevention and resilience training workshops. These sessions will provide you with essential tools and knowledge to foster a supportive and caring environment within the SFYC community.
Leadership Core Values Training: in collaboration with Common Ground and Jade Life & Wellness Coaching Academy to develop core leadership values.
Learn to navigate challenges, build strong social connections, and enhance your overall well-being.
- Increase in Awareness: Gain a deeper understanding of mental health and leadership.
- Increase in Skills: Develop practical skills to support your personal growth.
- Increase in Collaboration: Work together to address social concerns and build a supportive community.
Upon the completion of the entire 4-day program:
- You will be presented with a certificate of completion co-signed by NYC & MHFFS.
- You will be able to serve as a Mental Health Film Festival Singapore Ambassador @ our 5th Mental Health Film Festival (7 to 10 November 2024) and get to watch the films for free!
- You will be eligible to be invited to our exclusive learning journeys.
- Synopsis: Social stigma and discrimination can make mental health problems worse and stop a person from getting the help they need. In Mental Health & Me, participants will learn about the early signs of mental health distress and how treatment gaps can affect help seeking behaviour. The programme will conclude by illustrating how to build positive social connections and its linkage with mental wellbeing
- Learning Outcomes:
- Increase in mental health literacy
- Increase in knowledge of help-seeking in the mental health system in Singapore for self &/or others
- How to build stronger social connections/ relationships for greater mental wellbeing
- Speaker: Alex Yeo – Caring For Life
- Learning Outcomes:
- Group Mentorship session: A Q&A session about building resilience in life and work with Freddie Yeo – INFINITE Studios.
- Time:
- Workshop: 10am to 2pm (There will be a break in between)
- Lunch: 2pm to 3pm (Lunch will be provided)
- Group Mentorship: 3pm to 4pm
- Networking: 4pm to 4.30pm (Light refreshments will be provided)
- Synopsis: CFL’s LIFE Training is a half-day (4-hour) training programme that equips participants to recognize signs and positively engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide, and connect them with community resources for suicide intervention.
It stresses safety in engaging conversations that foster open talk to address suicide.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Increase in identifying early signs of suicide ideation
- Increase in ability to link persons in distress to relevant mental health resources
- Increase in number of ways to show care & concern for your loved ones in distress
- Speaker: Alex Yeo, Caring For Life
- Learning Outcomes:
- Group Mentorship session: A Q&A session about life, positive psychology & entrepreneurship with Stephen Lew, The School of Positive Psychology
- Time:
- Workshop: 10am to 2pm (There will be a break in between)
- Lunch: 2pm to 3pm (Lunch will be provided)
- Group Mentorship: 3pm to 4pm
- Networking: 4pm to 4.30pm (Light refreshments will be provided)
- Synopsis: Building Inner Resources to Resilience aims to equip the participants with mental well-being literacy and strategies to build inner resources to foster mental health resilience. The participants will have the opportunity to apply directly into their own situations and ways to encourage others to do so too.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Increase in mental wellbeing literacy
- Increase in ability to build inner resources for mental resilience
- Increase in ways to do social support for self and others
- Speaker: Dr Jade Kua, Jade Life & Wellness Academy
- Learning Outcomes:
- Group Mentorship session: A Q&A session about Overcoming mental wellbeing challenges while growing up, building connections and relationships and/or in the community with SPS Eric Chua
- Time:
- Workshop: 10am to 2pm (There will be a break in between)
- Lunch: 2pm to 3pm (Lunch will be provided)
- Group Mentorship: 3pm to 4pm
- Networking: 4pm to 4.30pm (Light refreshments will be provided)
- Sessions 1: How To Negotiate Your Needs In The Workplace
- Learning Outcomes:
- Increase awareness and boundaries of self advocacy
- Increase in ability to carry oneself and negotiate ones needs in the workplace
- Increase in group’s collective knowledge of various ways to negotiate conversations in the workplace
- Speaker: Shiao-Yin Kuik, Common Ground
- Learning Outcomes:
- Session 2: How To Emotionally Regulate In Stressful Situations
- Learning Outcomes:
- Increase in ability to recognize and describe signs of stress in themselves.
- Increase in ability to manage their emotions during stress.
- Increase in ways to support self and others during times of stress
- Speaker: Dr. Jade Kua, Jade Life & Wellness Coaching Academy
- Learning Outcomes:
- Session 3: Leadership Program Closing Ceremony and Certificate presentation
- Only those that have completed all 4 days will receive the Certificate of Completion
- Time:
- Session 1: 10am to 11.30am
- Break: 11.30 to 12pm (snacks provided)
- Session 2: 12 to 1pm
- Closing ceremony: 1pm to 1.30pm
- Networking Lunch with faculty: 1.30 pm to 2.30pm (Lunch will be provided)
Who can participate ?
Youths 17 to 30 years old.
Don’t need prior Mental Health knowledge.
Don’t need to be an existing volunteer with MHFFS.
Being a filmmaker is a plus but not necessary.
Mentors & Trainers
Mr. Eric Chua serves as Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. Before being elected to Parliament in July 2020, he spent 17 years in the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs. He held key roles such as Director of the SGSecure Programme Office and Commander of the 3rd SCDF Division, earning the Pingat Kepujan (Commendation Medal) National Day Award in 2017.
Eric advocates for social mobility, focusing on mentoring youth from underprivileged backgrounds. He chaired the People Association Youth Movement’s Central Youth Council and the Cairnhill CC Youth Executive Committee, receiving the Excellent Youth Award in 2017. As a community leader, he launched innovative programs and was awarded the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal) in 2019.
A Fulbright grantee, Eric holds a Master’s in Communication Management from USC and a Bachelor’s in Communication Studies from NTU. In his leisure time, he enjoys traveling and listening to music. He is married with one child.
Dr. Jade Kua is a senior consultant in general and pediatric emergency medicine, with a masters in trauma. She is a Past President of the Association of Women Doctors, Singapore and the immediate Past President of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association.
She is also a Master Certified Coach accredited by the International Coaching Federation and founder of Jade Life And Wellness Coaching Academy. Her children’s bedtime book on mindfulness, Good Night Marion, was published by Write Editions and used by therapists, psychologists and parenting experts.
She is married with 3 small children and 3 older stepchildren, and enjoys long walks and strong coffee.
Shiao-Yin works as a cultural change strategist. She is a Gestalt-based systems & organisational development consultant, process designer, trainer, facilitator, coach, communications advisor and public writer.
She helps organisations develop a more empathetic, empowering approach to working on the changes they long to see in their systems. She trains and coaches people in the cognitive and social-emotional skills they need to manage and lead collaboratively through uncertain times and complex problems.
At Common Ground, her mission is to restore wholeness in people so they can restore wholeness in their families, groups, communities and organisations.
Shiao-Yin was a two-time Nominated Member of Parliament (2014-2018). She sits on various boards, advising them on talent development, cultural strategy, behavioural shift and identity formation. She is a regular public speaker, sharing her insights on the challenge of leadership, trust-building, strategic narratives and the power of individuals in systems.
Stephen Lew is the Founder of The School of Positive Psychology (TSPP). Launched in 2007, TSPP is a Singapore-based higher education institute that offers psychological centric training programmes for professional and corporate development.
An expert in the field of positive psychology with 17 years of experience, Stephen has been interviewed and featured by Singapore media such as Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times, Harper’s Bazaar, The Peak Magazine, Singapore Business Review, Her World, and 8 Days about positive psychology, mental health, and well-being related topics.
Stephen holds a MSc Applied Positive Psychology with a focus in Organisational Psychology and Leadership. He is also a psychotherapist, clinical hypnotherapist, supervisor, and a fellow with the National Council of Psychotherapists in the United Kingdom.
Freddie Yeo is responsible for the media operations of Infinite Studios in Singapore and Batam, Indonesia. He has more than 20 years of experience in the industry.
He is also a film and television producer, involved in the development of Infinite Studios’ original content for its feature films, television and digital media slate with various partners both locally and internationally.
He is currently a Committee Member of the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) and is a member of the Board of Governors at Republic Polytechnic. He also chairs Republic Polytechnic’s School of Technology for the Arts’ Advisory Committee and sits as a member of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Film & Media Studies’ Advisory Committee.
As one of CFL’s founding members, Alex Yeo is currently the Acting Executive Director for Caring for Life. A passionate Youth Mental Health Advocate since August 2015, he is driven to explore different solutions to support and empower persons with mental health issues to regain their dignity in life.
His knowledge of the mental health sector and nonprofit organizations arose from his involvement in the governmental mental health team (NCSS); as a co-founder of a mental health service directory (Mental Connect) and his current involvement in a new non-profit startup (Caring For Life) in suicide prevention work.
Join us for an enriching experience that goes beyond the competition! Expand your horizons, nurture your talent,
and foster resilience with SYFC’s Youth Leadership Program.
Registration closes 26 July 2024, 5pm.
hello@mentalhealthfilmfest.sg for enquires.