Due to her health condition, Rae Ai looked younger than those her age, as she had a smaller than usual built since she could not eat well. It also led to her struggling with self-esteem issues which stemmed from the bullying she received in school. “I had a lot of pent up anger and resentment from being severely bullied in school, and it was beginning to take a toll on me. Gradually, I became a very angry person. I built a wall around me and became

Jared used to be from a gang, When he was 15, he left the gang because of the trouble it was causing him. Fortunately for him, he was never found guilty of any serious offences. Then, a friend who had received help from YGOS invited him to be a volunteer. Filled with passion to help others and value-add to the youths with his personal experience, Jared took up this role. At the same time, Jared was also being mentored by one of the staff at YGOS, Steven. Initially, Jared fe

As a child, Wesley never had anyone to look up to. His mother was stricken with an illness while his father had to work long hours as a taxi driver to support the family and pay for his mother’s medical bills. As a result, his Father was seldom at home. Wesley often felt that it was unfair for his family to suffer. In secondary school, he met a bunch of friends who were gang members. With them, he felt an unprecedented sense of belonging. Thus, he began to join their gang act

A painful memory flashed across Alex’s mind: Alex grabbed his schoolmate by his neck and choked him, dragged him down the classroom corridors and then rained unrelenting punches to his head. In the next moment, Alex suddenly blacked out. When he awoke, he had no recollection of what he did to his schoolmate. “I was furious. I lost control of myself.” The discipline master exclaimed that Alex's schoolmate could have died if Alex strangled him any harder. Alex received 5 strok

"I will never forget the most dramatic night of my life - the night when I got into a gang fight.” When Wallace got home the next morning, he received a traumatic phone call from his mother saying that the police were searching high and low for him. It was the first time he actually got into trouble with the police. He was frightened. He had no idea what will befall him. “Being in a gang led to many consequences for me and this was just one of my many epic life experiences as

Surely the mention of a stress ball would conjure up the image of a yellow, squishy ball with a goofy smiley face. Well, the stress ball for Keith took a different form. Struggling with anger management, Keith was prone to using physical aggression. He had kicked his teacher once; quarrelling and fighting with his peers are not new to him either. Fortunately for Keith, he found a healthier way to defuse his anger and stress - Tchoukball. Through the PEARLS Tchoukball program

Perhaps the first thing you would learn about Yavin is that he hates school. To Yavin, nobody in school cared for him or understood him: not his school counsellor who made him felt guilty about his poor academic performance; nor his classmates who irked him by spraying deodorant in class, even though they knew that it would trigger his migraine. Certainly also not his teachers, who hastily attributed his tiredness in class to late-night gaming. Yavin also didn’t click well wi

When Samuel was at a tender age of 11, his parents separated due to his dad’s abusive tendencies. Although the separation gave Samuel more peace and comfort, he also felt a great sense of loss. Since then, Samuel started hanging out at the neighbourhood basketball courts to cope with his loneliness. “A YGOS staff approached me one day as he spotted me loitering around aimlessly at the courts. He reached out to me and invited me to their centre to play and participate in their

Jaden is a 14-year-old youth who regularly participates in the Youth Drop-In at YGOS Ang Mo Kio Centre for the past year. “It’s my third favourite place in Singapore! It’s the place that I spend the most time at, besides my home and school.” Jaden likes the engagement at the Drop-In Centre. As a boy who isn’t really fond of homework and studying in general, Jaden finds fun in the games and comfort in the relationships YGOS offer. “I am particularly close to Sean, my mentor.

Have you ever seen a “money tree” in human form? The one that we’ve met goes by the name of Austin. He looks, eats and behaves entirely like a human being, but in his parents’ eyes, he only served the function of a money tree: all the monetary rewards from the Ministry of Education that he earns from achieving fantastic grades in school were all squandered by his parents in drinking sprees. “49.50 out of 50? You useless pig”, his mum would snarl. Physical abuse from his fathe

It is comfortable and perhaps even convenient for us to wear our rose-tinted glasses. In fact, there is another pair of glasses we wear too - this pair of glasses works like transition glasses, except that it turns our view dark in response to darkness. We magnify stains - failing to notice other beautiful colours. "I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders having to deal with these assumptions.” “It’s a record that sticks with me and it’s hard for people to see past my mistakes.

Her boyfriend was her everything. Naturally, the break up left a deep wound in Jenna’s heart. Ever since, she lost her direction in life. Broken, Jenna channelled her hurt towards others. She became blunt and bitter, neglecting others and eventually herself. Jenna locked herself up in her room and didn’t attend school. Even her parents had a difficult time trying to connect with Jenna. “During this bleak period of my life, I was placed under the care of a caseworker from Yout

By: Caroline, 22 years old, Youth Enhanced Supervision (Y.E.S) *Names have been changed to protect the author's privacy. Imagine if we could drink all the beer we want. We get intoxicated and our emotional pain gets numbed. But if we were to repeat it, day in and day out, drinking more beer each time, will we be immune to its effects? Like everyone else, Caroline’s answer was yes too. After going through divorce and mounting family problems, the pain she felt could no longer