When Allkin, our client came to do a mental health publication, we started with basic questions. Would anyone even read a mental health book? Why would they, if there were easy answers over Google?

And when they told us, yes, people would read – we would make them read (!) we were skeptical.

We wanted to give up on the project. John himself had done a similar book to encourage social workers to have better self-care, and it had bombed. Only 200 people read it.

Then Allkin told us that they would use it in their group therapy sessions, as a workbook.

That was when we became interested. Because John, the founder, had himself seen the power of groups in helping people recover from mental health distress, and immediately wanted to be part of this project. He knew that there was something magical in putting people into groups.

But there was a big challenge. Both young and old would use it. Allkin, had already We started conceptualizing for not just young, but also the old.

Then we went on to work harder.

Knowing that many would struggle to cope with highly conceptual mental concepts, we conceptualized it around the idea of a garden, which most were familiar with. We took people around the ‘garden’ of one’s mind, to better illustrate the power of good mental health.

We used fresh and modern colors to appeal to all.

Then we found such an approach to be so appealing, that the launch was graced by Singapore’s President, Tharman.