Stricken with schizophrenia 30 years ago, [Mr Harris] Ng recovered from the illness and overcame its stigma by a combination of medication and faith.
“Medication alone can only help us to stabilise,” he said. “We need the strength to carry on to be financially independent and to reintegrate back into society, to lift up our face, smile at people, and not to feel the stigma that we are a mental case.”
For Ng, believing in a God of love gives him strength, confidence and purpose.
It was his Christian faith that helped him come to terms with his mental illness.
Feeling very shameful about his condition, Ng would once deny that he was mentally ill and reject medication.
The turning point came when he went for counselling over 20 years ago with the Singapore Anglican Community Services, then known as the Anglican Welfare Services.