Mental Health Literacy Programmes
Mental Health Literacy refers to the knowledge and understanding of mental health conditions, their causes, symptoms, and treatments. Being mental health literate allows us to have the ability to recognise mental health problems, seek appropriate help, and support others who may be struggling. Mental health literacy is not just about awareness; it includes the skills to manage our own mental health and to contribute positively to the mental well-being of the community.
Start your journey towards better mental health literacy today! We have dedicated modules for children, young people and general adults.
Explore the programmes below to find out more.
For children and adolescents up to 18 years old
REACH (Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health) is a community-based mental healthcare service for students with emotional, social and/or behavioural issues. This national programme is jointly run by the Institute of Mental Health, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and National University Hospital, working and works collaboratively with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to bring mental healthcare services into the community by working closely with schools and Social Service Agencies (SSAs).
Since its set up in 2007, REACH has expanded its services to implement mental health services to all MOE-registered schools in Singapore to increase accessibility to mental health support for students below 19 years old.
In their efforts to increase mental health literacy and improve students’ overall mental health, below are 4 Mental Health Literacy modules catered for youths:
Introduction: What is Mental Health Literacy?
This module addresses stigma surrounding mental illness, its impact on help-seeking behaviour, and the myths and realities of mental illnesses.
Understanding Mental Health and Mental Illness
This module explores the various mental health states, the role of the brain and stress.
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
This module teaches individuals how to manage the situation when experiencing mental distress, introduce various treatment approaches and mental health services in Singapore.
The Importance of Positive Mental Health
This module shares about the stress response, resilience and techniques to enhance both mental and physical health.
Please note that these modules are optimised for desktop or laptop viewing. This website is best viewed with IE Edge 92.0, Chrome 92.0, Firefox 72.0, Safari 14.
For youths and young adults 16 - 30 years old
The Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health (CHAT), runs a national youth mental health outreach and assessment service for youths and young adults aged 16 to 30, supporting young people with mental health concerns since 2009.You can think of CHAT as Singapore's "AAA" battery for youth mental health. Essentially, CHAT is a group of healthcare professionals dedicated to promote:
Awareness of mental health;
Access to mental health resources; and to
Assess, by providing a personalised and confidential mental health check for youths and young adults between 16 and 30 years old.
Click here to read about CHAT’s vision and mission.
As part of CHAT’s outreach efforts to increase mental health literacy, peer support, and help seeking behaviour among youths and young adults, the following are 8 e-Learning modules for your learning:
Learn About Depression, Anxiety and Common Misconceptions of Therapy
This module shares about the symptoms, possible causes and treatment of clinical depression and anxiety, as well as how therapy is helpful.
Empathy vs Sympathy
This module seeks to explain the differences between empathy and sympathy, as well as to differentiate between empathetic and sympathetic responses. Learners would be able to gain an understanding about the qualities one should have to effectively empathise with others.
How Stress Affects Mental Well-Being
This module aims to provide learners with a better understanding of the relationship between stress, mental health, and internal bodily processes.
Learn How to Support Others and Get Support for Yourself
This module teaches learners how to identify steps behind helping a friend in distress, the power of effectively giving compliments and how to do so, as well as the topic of confiding in someone.
Ask Questions About Coping
This module seeks to educate learners on what coping questions are, the purpose of using them, and how to identify appropriate coping questions for individual circumstances.
Crafting Responses using Active Listening
This module delves into the 6 types of responses of active listening. (i.e., encouragers, paraphrasing, reflecting, giving compliments, listening to the wish behind the complaint, and summarising)
Identify Signs of Poor Mental Health in Young People
This module explores how to identify signs of poor mental health in young people by using the 6 Ds (i.e., distress, deviance, dysfunction, danger, duration, and deterioration).
Understanding Mental Health and Mental Illness
This module teaches learners to differentiate between mental health and mental illness.
For adults
