This volume discusses the indispensable role of societal dynamics in fostering resilience, mental wellbeing, and developing sustainable community livelihoods. Through insights from Southeast Asian scholars in sociology and anthropology, nursing and midwifery, medicine, psychiatry, and urban planning, this volume explores the interrelationships between community structures, personal and individual beliefs, religious systems, ethnographic experiences, and livelihoods that contribute greatly to and are beneficial for achieving mental health and wellbeing. The contributions to the volume analyze complex mental health problems from a holistic perspective. They cover case studies across the region, and provide solutions ranging from the personal to policy levels. The volume is essential reading for postgraduate scholars, lecturers, scientists, and policy makers to understand and apply multiple-comprehensive approaches in the study of mental health and wellbeing, and to integrate both clinical and social perspectives in their work.

Meredian Alam is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. His key research interest is in the area of mental health from sociological and anthropological perspectives. He attained his PhD in sociology and anthropology from the University of Newcastle Australia, MSc in mental health from Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom, an MPhil in culture, environment, and sustainability from the University of Oslo, Norway, an MA in development sociology and a BSocSc in sociology from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. He took up a research fellowship at the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies (NIAS), the University of Copenhagen in Denmark studying comparative biogas development for locals' everyday wellbeing in Nepal, China, India, and Pakistan during 2010-2012. He was a visiting professor at the Tung Wah College Hong Kong in December 2023, and a visiting researcher at Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research. He received a Certificate in Mental Health Aid (CMHA) from the Department of Community and Health, New South Wales Australia.

Nicholas Pang Tze Ping is a clinical associate professor teaching at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. He is a deputy director (clinical) at Hospital University Malaysia Sabah (HUMS). He earned a Master of Medicine (M.Med) in Psychology from the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Newcastle University, UK, and a Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from Australia. He is also a Member of Royal College of Psychiatry (MRCPsy). Currently, he holds the following administrative and research positions: Head of Secretariat of Covid-19 Coordination Committee, Universiti Malaysia Sabah; psychiatrist in charge, Hospital Wanita dan Kanak-Kanak, Sabah, Kota Kinabalu; clinical service at the Department of Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu; Founding Head of Consultation, Liaison Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital; and Deputy Secretary, Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists, Young Asia Pacific Psychiatrists Network (YAPPNet).

Shariza Shahrin has taught at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam since 2006. She has a PhD in social anthropology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland and an MA in anthropology from Cornell University, USA. She has developed her expertise in intersectional social phenomena involving gender and education, specifically in Brunei Darussalam. She is currently undertaking a research project investigating the impacts of climate change on the mental wellbeing in Borneo, and supervising research students, interrogating burn-out and quality of life amongst Bruneian school counsellors, and looking at the wellbeing of children of divorced parents. She recently published a chapter, “Learning Gender in Malay Muslim Society in Brunei” in Lian  Kwen  Fee  et  al. (eds), (Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam, 2023, Series: Asia in Transition, published by Springer, Singapore.