How a bipolar disorder sufferer used meditation and yoga to manage her mental health, and now helps others as a counsellor
- Opal Li, who suffers from depression and bipolar disorder, started to control her mental health turmoil when she discovered meditation, and later yoga
- Her advice to people who are facing mental health issues is to recognise that there is nothing to be ashamed of and to seek help
Opal Li has found her calling. After many years of sorting through her own mental health issues, the Hong Kong resident is now a mental health counsellor herself.
“My purpose is to help others. I know what it is like to be in a dark place and want to support people who are suffering,” says the 41-year-old, who works with mental health charity Mind HK and ReSource Counselling, both in Hong Kong.
“I feel blessed to have this opportunity every day.”
Li started suffering from depression in her late teens. She attributes this to pressure from family and society to be a “good student”, get a “decent job” and find a “good partner”.
“I felt a lot of stress, to live up to a certain academic standard in an environment where constant comparison was the norm. I didn’t understand myself and my situation did not allow me to explore who I was. By my mid-20s I felt a big hole inside me,” says Li, adding that she had suicidal thoughts at the time.
She experienced extreme mood swings, vacillating between feeling energetic to episodes of depression.
