When Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 put a halt to Mr Jonathan Kuek’s volunteering at the Institute of Mental Health , he used the downtime to start social enterprise Total Wellness Initiative Singapore .
A more well-rounded approach to wellness and well-being needed to be adopted – one that also factored in the social, occupational, financial, physical, creative, digital, intellectual, spiritual, and the environmental aspects of wellness, notes Mr Kuek. “I knew I didn’t have the training to be an interventionist, and I was not aiming to be a clinician; so I decided to use my expertise in research to bring to life various psychoeducational and actionable material, programmes, and events, grounded in evidence – all in a bid to prevent mental health decline,” he explains.Despite having limited resources, TWIS has brought various wellness-centric programmes to the public through the support of its volunteers.
Total Wellness Initiative Singapore , which was founded by Mr Kuek, partners organisations to conduct wellness planning workshops. PHOTO: SPH MEDIA In 2016, he got his first research assistant role under Dr Peter Chew, a senior lecturer in psychology; and subsequently, Associate Professor Carol Choo, who specialises in clinical psychology. This position allowed him to collaborate with researchers from IMH and enabled him to learn more about research techniques.