Actor and Youth Ambassador Darasing Khurana Highlights Mental Health Issues with Singapore PM

Model, actor and philanthropist Darasing Khurana has been working towards the cause of mental health awareness ever since he stepped into the public domain. This year, he was appointed as the Commonwealth Year of Youth Champion, becoming the first Asian and second person overall to hold the post. Under this new role, the actor has been expanding the reach of his work, and recently he got a chance to do that on a bigger scale as he was present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2024 in Samoa.

Darasing was one of only five people who were specially invited by the Commonwealth Secretary General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC. While there, he also moderated a session on mental health. Darasing got to meet many high dignitaries at the event, including Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa, India's Union minister of Parliamentary Affairs Hon. Kiran Rijiju and British Billionaire, scholar and philanthropist Sir Nassir David Khalili.

One of the most striking discussions that Darasing had was with the PM of Singapore as he spoke to him about the state of mental health awareness in the country. “Just one month ago, there was a report published which said that one out of three people in Singapore are suffering from anxiety and depression. The survey also said that on an average, a Singaporean spends three hours per day on social media. I discussed with him my agenda of digital detox, and I also shared with him how a holistic approach of life can solve the problem, not just in youth, but in every age group, especially in a super-fast, evolving and developing country like Singapore, where people greatly rely on technology and social media on their phones for almost everything,” he shares.

Darasing adds that he also spoke to him about how India can contribute towards this growth. “India has a lot of techniques like Ayurveda and meditation to offer to the world which they are adopting with open arms. But we need to sit down and discuss it in a bilateral meeting on how we can come together and create a program specially for Singapore, keeping their people in mind. He was very interested in it.”

The cause of mental health awareness has progressed a lot even in India in the last decade. Darasing has been a driving force behind it too as he has used his position to spread awareness as well as opened the Pause.Breathe.Talk foundation where people can get therapy at affordable rates.