Launch of President’s Challenge – Institute of Mental Health Programme

LAUNCH OF PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE – INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMME, SYiNC

President Halimah Yacob launched a new President’s Challenge (PC) – Institute of Mental Health (IMH) programme today. Named SYiNC, this community-based programme will better support youths with mental health conditions, by bringing the care closer to the homes of these youths. President Halimah first announced this collaboration between PC and IMH at the 3rd Asia Pacific Virtual Conference and Meeting on Mental Health.

Incidence of mental health issues among youths has been on a rise in recent years. Over the five-year period from 2015 to 2020, the number of adolescents seen at IMH for depression has increased by about 60%. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated the challenges of helping these youths, given the safe management restrictions at our healthcare facilities. Home-based learning and measures that were implemented during the circuit breaker period also posed challenges for students who wanted to seek help from school counsellors.

Beyond the Government, there is scope for the community to play a larger role in the continuum of care. PC has therefore partnered with IMH in this pilot programme to better prepare Social Service Agencies (SSAs) in the case management of youths with mental health issues.

The aims of the PC-IMH programme are to uplift the capabilities of our SSAs and to provide a stepped care model for youths with mild to moderate mental health symptoms. Care for these youths will be right-sited within the community, so that they can receive the essential secondary interventions and psychosocial support nearer to home. This new model of care has the potential to revolutionise our approach to mental healthcare.

Four SSAs (Club HEAL, Singapore Association for Mental Health, Singapore Children’s Society and TOUCH Community Services) have joined the pilot programme and will be working with IMH to implement the programme.

President Halimah Yacob said: “I am confident that the PC-IMH programme will help to uplift the capabilities of the social sector and provide essential intervention and support to our youths in a familiar setting. By situating mental healthcare within the community, the PC-IMH programme also helps to holistically address the social issues faced by youths and their families. I am heartened that four SSAs, including SAMH, have joined the programme and I urge more SSAs to join us in supporting our youths with mental health needs.”

The PC-IMH programme will serve youth with mental health conditions between 13 – 19 years old who:

• Sought help at IMH Emergency Room but were not admitted but may still require some community support; or
• Were discharged from the psychiatric ward or were being followed up in the specialist clinics.

As the domain expert, IMH will curate and provide a set of common training to the four SSAs to equip them with the necessary skills to manage the referred youth cases from IMH. The training will cover interview and assessment skills in supporting youth, case formulation and evidence-based interventions. Regular case conferences by IMH with case managers functioning as a single point of contact will also be available to support the SSAs in the management of these referred cases. The SSAs will also be expected to provide standardised core service components such as case management, counselling work, psychotherapeutic practice such as family therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy.

“Recovering from a mental health condition is often daunting for our youths, but if there is a social service partner journeying with them, they can be better assured of a good recovery. We hope with the PC-IMH programme, we can grow a pool of partners well attuned with youth mental health needs and ready to support their recovery in the community,” says Assoc Prof Lee Cheng, Clinical Director at the Office of Population Health, Institute of Mental Health.

The PC-IMH programme is funded by President’s Challenge, with generous contributions from The Ngee Ann Kongsi and Raffles Medical Group.

Mr James Teo Wee Wee, President of The Ngee Ann Kongsi, said, “Over the years, beyond the Teochew community, The Ngee Ann Kongsi has been actively contributing to many education and research initiatives that benefit all Singaporeans. We recognise that the Covid-19 pandemic has heightened the challenges of mental health, and it is vital that we continue to provide support to our society during these trying times. We hope our gift will make a difference in the lives of youths with mental health conditions.”

“Fever, cough, and shortness of breath are some of the typical symptoms of COVID-19 we are familiar with. Less well-known, but equally important, is the impact of the pandemic on mental health. The President’s Challenge - Institute of Mental Health Programme is therefore timely and Raffles Medical Group is glad to support this important initiative. We hope our contribution will help our youths overcome mental health challenges and emerge stronger,” said Dr Loo Choon Yong, Executive Chairman of Raffles Medical Group.

PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
ISTANA
15 MARCH 2022