19/06/2026
Many are curious about my work as a facilitator/counsellor inside Changi Prison, and the most common response I get is: "Gosh, your work must be so difficult."
CNA'S Breaking Habit takes cameras right into the cells and the classrooms where I spend most of my working hours engaging the incarcerated and their families.
But is my work difficult, and if it is, what makes it difficult?
This episode focuses on substance-abuse offenders, and the demeanour of the interviewees in this episode are spot on. I will let you decide whether their responses makes this job difficult, but what does makes my job difficult is watching the responses of their families.
A common theme that cuts across all users is the inability to cope with life transitions, particularly the loss of something or someone that rattles their sense of self and who they are in the world. This response to loss can be so acute it drives them to escapism, avoidance and acting out.
Sadly this response to loss is sometimes exacerbated by the families themselves, who are unable to cope with these transitions, too. They don't resort to substances, but their anxiety can lead to an increase in co-dependent behaviour, toxic positivity, and people pleasing.
I believe the family is broken in Singapore. Our long-held beliefs of family cannot hold up to the realities of today, and I think what makes my job difficult is when families and the incarcerated stubbornly hold on to those beliefs, even when its impact is staring right back at them. Watch the full episode at
Inside Singapore’s Drug Rehabilitation Centres, four drug abusers confront addiction through treatment, counselling and strict routines, while their families grapple with the consequences of drug abuse.
