35m More For The National Effort To Raise The Mental Wellbeing Of All Singaporeans

15 Jan 2009

The Government has accepted the recommendations of the National Mental Health Working Group (NMHWG) and is injecting another $35m over the next 3 years to support efforts aimed at raising the mental emotional resilience and wellbeing of Singaporeans.  This commitment, on top of the $88m announced earlier, will give further impetus to synergise efforts to improve mental well being in the community. These additional funds will go towards customised education programmes for children, adults and the elderly.  Singaporeans can also benefit from more ready access to support and professional help, as community partners will be trained to identify and support potential mental health problems.

Cross-sectoral Partnership for Holistic, Community-based Action

Given that one’s mental wellbeing is shaped by many socio-cultural factors, an inter-agency approach is needed to identify and implement effective measures to support the mental wellbeing of Singaporeans. The National Mental Health Working Group (NMHWG) headed by Permanent Secretary (Health), Miss Yong Ying-I was set up in 2007, with MOE, MOM, MCYS, MHA, MINDEF, NTUC, SNEF and PA as members. The NMHWG built on the existing efforts of various agencies to develop a national strategy for implementation by the public, private and people sectors.

Like physical health, acting early to build mental resilience can prevent the onslaught of mental illness and improve the chances of recovery. The NMHWG’s recommendations therefore focused on 2 strategies:

• Education and Prevention - Increasing public education to help Singaporeans learn how to improve their mental wellbeing and resilience

• Early Identification and Support – Training and building networks with community partners such as schools, social agencies and GPs so that potential mental health problems can be identified early and supported in the community

Guided by these overarching strategies, the NMHWG customised recommendations for Children, Adults and the Elderly to better address the different circumstances and challenges faced by each group. The key recommendations for each group are summarised below.

Customised Support for Each Age Group

Children and Adolescents: Currently, there are individual efforts by several agencies to support the mental development of children in mainstream schools. More recently, MOE also enhanced social emotional learning among students, to help them develop healthy relationships and build up resilience. The NMHWG recommends strengthening partnerships between MOH, MOE, MCYS and community agencies to enhance efforts in mainstream schools, and strengthen outreach efforts to children/adolescents in Post-Secondary Education Institutions (PSEIs), special education and those who are out-of-school.

Education and prevention

• HPB and MOE will enhance the existing MYM  mental health education programme for children in primary and secondary schools. New programmes will also be developed for teachers, school counsellors and parents to learn how to support the mental wellbeing of children. Beyond mainstream schools, HPB will work with PSEIs to extend the MYM programme to their students.

Identification and support

• In collaboration with MOE, IMH piloted a new community mental health programme known as REACH  in 2007 to train and support school counsellors and GPs in early identification and management of behavioural and emotional problems in children (see Annex A ). Following the pilot, MOE is working with some school clusters to establish Support Teams in schools so that stronger support can be provided to students. These Support Teams comprise existing personnel in the school who have experience and training in providing support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties, such as the Full-Time School Counsellors (FTSCs), Head of Department for Pupil Welfare, Teacher Counsellors and Special Needs Officers. The programme will be rolled out to all primary schools, secondary schools and Junior Colleges/Centralised Institute (JCs/CI) by 2011. IMH will work with NCSS and MCYS to extend the REACH programme to community agencies such as Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) working with children. To parallel REACH for school students and younger children, the Community Health Assessment Team (“CHAT”) programme will be piloted with PSEIs in 2009 to facilitate outreach to adolescent students.

Adults: Today, efforts among agencies are focused on supporting family-friendly environments and work-life balance. More can be done to help adults cope with more specific risk factors such as poor family or work relationships and stressful events (e.g. bereavement, restructuring). The NMHWG recommends strengthening partnerships between MOH, MOM, employers and unions to introduce initiatives at the workplace. Partnership with People’s Association (PA) will also be stepped up to deliver mental health education to non-working adults in the community.

Education and prevention

• The Treasure Your Mind (“TYM”) workplace mental health education programme was launched by HPB in 2007. As the single largest employer, the public sector will implement TYM or an equivalent programme for employees by 2010. HPB has also started working with PA to conduct Nurture Your Mind (NYM) talks at community centres for non-working adults.

• An employers-led alliance was formed in July 2008 to serve as an industry catalyst to raise employers’ awareness about the importance of supporting the mental wellbeing of employees. The alliance led by Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, CEO of Singapore Exchange (SGX), brings together 10 companies from various sectors and includes representatives from NTUC, MOM and MOH. The alliance has identified a set of good practices to promote employee mental wellbeing. As a next step, they will encourage other employers to adopt these practices. (see Annex B )

Identification and support

• Community Mental Health Teams were started in 2004 by IMH to provide mobile psycho-social rehabilitation for patients. As a next step, IMH will work with CDCs to pilot a “Job Club” initiative to provide employment readiness training and work placement services for stabilised patients.

Elderly: Today, MCYS, HPB, PA and community organisations have started efforts to promote physical health and active ageing of seniors. These also support the mental wellbeing of seniors. Moving forward, the NMHWG recommends strengthening partnerships between MOH, MCYS, NCSS and PA so that efforts to promote active ageing and mental wellbeing are aligned. Targeted efforts are also proposed to educate the public about depression and dementia as these can often be passed off as a natural part of ageing and not addressed.

Education and prevention

• HPB is piloting a mental health public education programme for seniors, named “Nurture Your Mind for Older Persons Programme” (NYMOP). To-date, the NYMOP programme, which focuses on positive relationships, coping, and meaning in life has reached out to about 1,650 seniors. HPB will also scale up public education on the signs and symptoms of dementia and depression; and encourage early help seeking. (see Annex C )

Identification and Support

• The Community Psycho-Geriatric Programme (“CPGP”) was started in 2007 to train and support to staff in eldercare agencies to detect and manage seniors with psycho-geriatric problems in the community. With new committed funds, MOH, NCSS and MCYS are working with CPGP to scale up training of some 420 more staff in eldercare agencies, grassroots leaders, emergency service personnel and frontline staff in CPF Board, HDB and Town Councils. NCSS, MCYS and MOH will also work with WDA to promote the adoption of mental health skills in the Workforce Skills Qualification for the agencies in the Community and Social Services sector by early 2009.

Only the beginning, a long road ahead

As our demographic profile changes and socio-economic structures change, Singapore must look forward and prepare for the possible strains on the mental wellbeing of Singaporeans. These increasing strains affect not only the individual but also impose indirect costs on families, the society and the economy. While the prevalence of mental illnesses today is not alarming and is not expected to rise too significantly, we should be comprehensive in upgrading the capabilities of our healthcare delivery system and our residents to improve their individual wellbeing and effectiveness.

The promotion of mental wellbeing will require the joint and sustained effort of the public, people and private sectors.  To ensure that inter-agency efforts are well-coordinated, the NMHWG will reconstitute itself into a standing committee and oversee the implementation of the recommendations.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

15 JAN 2009

• Annex A (44 KB) 
  

• Annex B (20 KB) 
  

• Annex C (12 KB)