In recent months, the Beijing community has been showing a growing interest in the topic of depression. This month, we were invited by JingKids to offer a gender perspective to it. Upon invitation to attend their monthly salon, we are honored to have Enoch (pen name: Noch Noch) represent the organization and share her experience as a mother and a female executive who has suffered from depression.
The talk took place at Sanfine Hospital on the morning of 13 October. It was a cozy set up with about 20 participants. Enoch started off by explaining the work that CandleX does in the Beijing community. She outlined our aspiration to raise awareness about bipolar and depression and gave a summary of some of our recent events. Enoch then shared her personal journey in Chinese.
The participants took a moment to introduce themselves and their motivation for attending the talk. They either had similar experiences, or simply wanted to know more about depression. Some had friends or family who exhibited depressive symptoms, while others wanted to know how to help those in need.
Enoch explained what it was like for her during her depression – as if hit by an avalanche and stuck under 50 feet of snow. She talked about how clinical depression, is defined by the World Health Organization, and how she, through a mélange of medication, therapy, writing, self-discovery, and projection of herself onto inanimate objects (stuffed toy bears in her case), came to learn more about herself, rediscover her creativity, and play her way out of depression. She shared about her work with Bearapy, and the goals she has for helping corporations take care of employees’ mental health, and also her personal mission in life to raise awareness about depression. This is one reason why she is involved in CandleX and helps with any events she can.
Enoch also talked about how CandleX came about into being, and the founder, XiaoJie’s, experience and the work she does for the community.
The talk ended with some participants sharing their stories and asking questions about how best to take care of themselves. Jing Kids’ owner, Toni Ma, shared her personal journey and also that she had been reading Enoch’s blog for years, and was thus very excited they had finally met!
It was an open, authentic, and heartfelt event. Enoch was touched by others’ struggles, and again, affirmed the need for support groups and organizations, such as CandleX, to help make this world to a better place.
