Winner of “Most Promising Advocate” Award, Singapore Advocacy Awards 2014.
WHAT OTHERS SAY
“I really respect your candour – both in what you say, and in how you say it.”
“…so much to learn not just from your unique experience and deduction, but also from others in the same journey as well.”
“Thanks for enlightening me on the need to support colleagues/friends with mental health issues. I found the talk very informative. It made me reflect on issues related to mental health. Thank you again.”
“ I’m impressed by your passion in advocating for the persons with mental health issues.”
“Thumbs up for advocating for mental health!”
“I believe I bring back something today, especially after hearing your true story. I also will change my concept about those with mental health issues.”
“It is a good sharing session on mental health patients issues and what difficulties were faced in society. You did a good job in your presentation and I am happy for you that you managed to overcome such challenges. I want to say that you are very brave in standing up to advocate for mental health persons. And I enjoyed the session. You are awesome!”
“This session turns out to be a reality check for me. I had the pleasure to work with a recovering mental health patient. He proved to be an asset in my organisation. Thank you so much for this class.”
“Thank you for sharing your experience with us on how you managed and cope well with your problems. It give us an idea on how to deal with it and help our colleagues who’s been going through mental health illness. It help me to be more aware of what people who suffer from mental illness understand them more and help them to be more confident and live like a normal person do. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you Lishan for sharing with us your real-life experience. It has been an insightful lesson and an eye opener. It may not be easy to admit that one has a mental health issue, what’s more to go public and share your experience. Well done. And thanks once again. Hope you success in your future!”
“Thank you for sharing your experiences to us. It opens my eyes on your difficulties coping with reality of life. I salute you for being brave and strong to share your stories. Keep up the good work.”
“Thank you for sharing your true story. You are a brave person. I appreciate the research work that you are doing and the effort in putting these materials and presentation together. The session helps me to understand more about mental illness and cleared some doubts. Definitely we need more public education, attention from the government. Thank you again and keep up the good work.”
“I am very impressed and salute to you as you are sharing your real life mental health, you are able to come up and stand up from your illness, recovery and sustain yourself wonderfully. I can feel your joy in mental health work, you can share and help support groups and peers and you can explore and research the well-being and sustainability strategy to sustain your mental well being.”
“Thanks Lishan for the talk! It is good to hear more about mental health issues with relation to workplace. Continue to advocate for mental health!”
“Ms. Chan Lishan – amazing speaker with engaging activities incorporated into the seminar.”
“Lishan provided her own version of recovery with the 4Rs (Return, regain, reinvent, resume), which was refreshing. That also led me to think that perhaps an individual’s route to recovery could also be fuelled when he/she comes out with their own method to overcome their respective challenges. She also highlighted that we should not merely focus on the positive aspects that have surfaced, but also the gritty challenges.”
“Lishan left the deepest impression, perhaps because I had read about her before in the newspapers. And meeting her in person after reading about her experiences and her book publishing, it felt like an honour to be there and hear her stories from her.”
“Some memorable takeaways: Lishan’s willingness to share, her authorship and her story about her friend. Also: the distinction between mental illness and intellectual disability and other illnesses, takes on recovery, and employment issues.”
“It was enlightening to hear Lishan sharing the 4Rs: return, repair, reinvent, resume. It is very applicable, not only to people with mental illness, but also in everyone’s daily lives.”
AUTHOR EVENTS & INTERVIEWS, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTS
2023 Beyond Text—Rewriting Health Narratives. National Library Board, Singapore. (upcoming)
2023 “Listening, Loss, and Attunement”, The Listening Academy, Singapore.
2023 Podcast interview #105 with Lisa Napoli from Biographers International Organization, USA.
https://biographersinternational.org/news/podcast/podcast-episode-105-li-shan-chan/
2022 Book session for “Searching for Lee Wen” at Georgetown Literary Festival. Penang, Malaysia.
https://www.georgetownlitfest.com
2022 Email interview with Pat Matsueda, Managing Editor for MĀNOA literary journal 1992-2022, USA.
https://www.auteurlimits.com/interviews/searching-for-lee-wen
2022 Book talk on “Writing Lives”. Epigram Coffeeshop, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
2021 “On Writing a Life”, Speaker, Biography Brown Bag Fall 2021 Series, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, USA.
Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyVK-j7oPpo
2021 “Yellow Man”, Speaker, in Stories About Stories: First Look Showcase, Epigram Books, Singapore.
2020 “Alternative Lives: Imagining and Exploring Your Possible Worlds”, Workshop Instructor, Singapore Book Council and Singapore Management University, Singapore.
2020 British High Commission Singapore, Mental Health Week. Invited Speaker.
2020 “Letter to students in Abnormal Psychology at the City University of New York”, Invitation from Professor Philip Yanos
2020 CEO’s Kopi Chat, Invited Speaker, Agency for Integrated Care, Singapore.
2019 “Seven Uses of the Imagination in Biography Writing”, Speaker, International Auto/Biography Association Asia-Pacific Life Writing Conference, Shanghai.
http://www.sclw.sjtu.edu.cn/IABA2019
2019 Hong Kong Association for Mental Health 65th Anniversary Symposium, Hong Kong. Invited Speaker.
2019 9th International Conference – Together against Stigma, Singapore. Invited Plenary chairperson and speaker.
2018 “Letter to master’s students at the City University of Hong Kong”, Invitation from Professor Marcus Chiu.
2018 “Left to Write: Observing Struggle and Loss”, Panellist, Singapore Book Council, Singapore.
2018 “Writing Lives”, Sing Lit Station and Independent Archive Singapore. Speaker.
2018 Yale-NUS Diversity Week. Panel Discussion. Speaker.
2018 Raffles Girls School Career Day. Speaker.
2016 Singapore Design Week. Design for Good session. Speaker.
2016 NUS Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme Dialogue. Panellist.
2016 NUS Social Work Students. Guest Lecturer.
2015 World Federation for Mental Health Regional Congress. Guest speaker in Special Dialogue Plenary Session, Singapore.
2015 Youth Corps Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2015 SG50 Photo exhibition opening. Invited speaker.
2015 Tweet for Change. Singapore Writers Festival. Panellist.
2015 “ST Conversations: Madness & Mayhem”, Panellist, Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore.
2015 Grey Anatomy. Singapore Writers Festival. Panellist
2015 Pandora’s Dimension. Film premiere and panel discussion. Panellist.
2015 “Mind this Voice: From hurtful to helpful”, Book Launch Sharing. IMH, Singapore
2015 Theatreworks 24-hour playwriting competition. Guest Speaker.
2015 Executive Counselling Training Academy. Invited Speaker.
2015 Simei Care Centre Annual Carnival. Guest Speaker.
2015 Community Health Assessment Team- Art Exhibition Sharing.
2015 National University of Singapore Social Work Module. Guest Speaker.
2015 Institute of Mental Health Continuing Psychiatric Education Talk. Speaker
2014 180 minutes Workplace Wellbeing- Mental health policies and planning for leadership and management. Workshop at Social Service Institute, Singapore.
2014 Mindset Vertical Marathon. Guest speaker
2014 Caregiver’s Alliance Ltd Family Forum. Guest speaker
2014 Singapore Mental Health Conference. Speaker
2014 NCSS Employment Forum Breakout Session. Invited Speaker.
2014 Peer support specialist training programme sharing to mental health professionals.
SAMH, Singapore.
2014 Counselling for Special Populations. Afternoon workshop for UniSIM Masters of Counselling students. Guest Lecturer.
2014 Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Guest Speaker
2014 INTO1 peers sharing session. EPIP, IMH, Singapore.
2014 “Inspirational Stories”, Panellist, Singapore Auto/Biography Forum, Singapore.
2014 Raffles Girls School (Secondary). Inconvo panel discussion. Youth mental health in the 21st century. Guest speaker.
2014 Executive Counselling Training Academy. Guest Speaker.
2014 Yishun Town Secondary School, Singapore. Invited Speaker Series. Speaker.
2014 Grassroots leaders at Caregiver’s Alliance Ltd. Guest speaker.
2014 Students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic visit IMH, Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2014 Coached peer to give sharing to Occupational Therapy students at IMH, Singapore.
2014 Central Public Library, Singapore. Key speaker.
2013 Institute of Mental Health Regional Psychosis Symposium, Invited Keynote speaker, Singapore.
2013 Caregiver’s Alliance Limited, Singapore. Sharing with caregivers.
2013 INTO1 peers sharing session. EPIP, IMH, Singapore.
2013 Film and Media Studies students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic visit IMH, Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2013 Community Advocates, Raffles Institution Junior College, Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2013 Peers4Rs programme, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2013 Youth support youth programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Guest speaker.
2012 Counselling Department, Singapore Bible College, Singapore. Speaker.
2012 Health Promotion Board youth forums, Singapore. Panellist.
2012 Book launch of ‘A Philosopher’s Madness’, Singapore.
2012 Institute of Mental Health’s Burst the Silence Campaign, Singapore.
2012 Singapore Association of Mental Health Public Forum on Schizophrenia, Singapore. Guest Speaker.
2012 “Philosophy and the Arts in Singapore”, Goodman Arts Centre, Singapore. Seminar speaker.
2012 “Underdetermination”, Future Cities Laboratory Lunch-time Seminar, Singapore. Speaker.
2011 BlinkBL-NK #14. Singapore. Speaker.
2011 Post-museum philosophy workshop on reasoning, Facilitator.
2011 Post-museum philosophy discussion group, Facilitator.
writer, researcher, advocate 