PHP Outing – 4/6/2018

On 4th June 2018, the Peer Helpers had the privilege of visiting Samaritans of Singapore, Chat Hub @Scape and Touch Cyber Wellness. Despite it being the first week of our holidays, our Peer Helpers turned up fresh and excited to meet and learn about these non-profit organisations committed to serving the community.

The first place we visited was Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) where we were welcomed with a speech by two of their staff. They explained to us the prevalence of suicide in Singapore, with it being the leading cause of deaths for those aged 10-29. We were shown a graph that indicated that suicide causes more deaths than transport accidents in Singapore.

The staff then shared with us the different programmes and services that SOS provided. There were ten in total, aimed at prevention, intervention and postvention. They have a 24 hour hotline providing round the clock emotional support for those in distress, manned by a team of volunteers. He disclosed that nighttime were the “peak hours”, as well as festivals and special dates as people tend to relive their traumatic experiences. On average, they receive hundreds of calls a night, which was a surprising fact for all of us.

There are several instances where the staff has to discern the severity of each caller’s situation and respond accordingly, such that they can attend sufficiently to everyone who is in need. We felt deep admiration for the dedicated and passionate volunteers who go through a rigorous volunteer training programme, where they are supervised by their mentors and supported by professional staff, in order to provide their best services. Some of these volunteers have even served this organisation for decades.

Next, we headed to Chathub. CHAT stands for Community Health Assessment Team and is located at level 5 of Scape. The aims of CHAT can be summarised in three words Assess, Access, Awareness. Chat offers confidential and personalised mental health checks for young persons between 16 and 30 years old and recommend resources for their needs. Chat wishes to provide access to resources and information on mental health through their physical space but also through website and social media. Chat has also embarked on campaigns to increase awareness for mental health – previous outreach projects including the bus awareness campaign, In My Shoes and On The Mend.

Chathub is furnished with colourful chairs and couches, offering a warm and cozy environment. Brochures and books on mental health are available to be picked up/ browsed through. It is also a place for anyone to speak with the friendly youth support worker. We took a tour of the space and got to see the room where the mental health checks would be done. This would be a good resource for us in the future!

Furthermore, Chat provides a very well maintained online help service, Web CHAT, where anybody can text when they need someone to talk to and receive a response from one of the staff. One can build a trusting relationship online before being guided towards face to face sessions at Chat Hub when he or she feels comfortable. It is even arranged such that you can meet with the same person you talked to. The CHAT youth support workers are online between Tuesdays to Saturdays, 12pm to 9pm (excluding public holidays) and can be contacted at 64936500 / 64936501. Head down to their website for more information: https://www.chat.mentalhealth.sg/

After a lunch break, we headed to our last stop which was Touch Cyber Wellness. We were introduced to the wide diversity of services that Touch provided – 18 services, 20 centres and 24 clubs. We learnt more about Touch Cyber Wellness which aims to promote healthy and proper gaming behaviours.

We also got a taste of their holiday programme by playing a first person shooter (FPS) game. The peer helpers got a bit too competitive, excitedly spamming the mouse and screaming in excitement. The staff informed us that the games was to assist those with gaming addiction by teaching their life skills such as teamwork and strategising, so that they can get the best out of gaming. The staff were highly engaging and well informed about the trendy games so we could see how their service would be useful for those kids! It was most intriguing to see how they used games as a form of therapy to help channel the youth’s energies in the right way and guide them towards honing their behaviours through gaming itself.

It was overall eye-opening learning journey. We all had lots of fun and learnt lots of insights about these organisations.