Strengthening Resources for Peer Support of Mental Health in Community Settings and Workplaces

6 Ms Elysa Chen asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health whether there are plans to strengthen and resource peer support structures for mental health in community settings and workplaces, including training, supervision and safeguards for peer supporters so that early help is more accessible while ensuring that peer supporters are not over-burdened or placed in situations beyond their competencies.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health): Sir, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) offers peer support training for Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), workplaces and community groups. Participants are trained to recognise peers in distress, provide active listening and guide them to seek help early. Peer supporters also learn to practise self-care and may seek help through their own organisations' Employee Assistance Programmes or counselling services.

From this year onwards, HPB's peer supporter training will be available in a hybrid format and offer additional modules to enhance training. Additionally, the National Council of Social Service's (NCSS') peer support specialist programme trains persons with lived experiences to support others on their recovery journeys.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council have established the Well-being Champions Network to provide workplace-appointed Champions with the necessary resources and training to better support their organisations in promoting workplace mental health well-being.

The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) also offers online mental health awareness modules to better equip frontliners to help persons with mental health needs navigate the service landscape.

But I must say that these resources we put forth for peer support and peer support itself, is only one prong of the scaffolding we are wrapping around persons with mental health needs. In addition to some of these peer support measures that we are doing, the Member will also realise from what I shared earlier in the earlier Parliamentary Question, that we have platforms, such as MindSG.gov.sg and mindline.sg, that provide the public with useful mental health information and resources.

Ultimately, peer support is meant as a scaffold to support the greater needs of the community. They are not meant to carry the burden of mental health care that the professionals should be doing. I think if a peer supporter feels that there is something beyond which his or her competency can handle, then I think these resources we put forth, like mindline.sg, can be useful referral points for the peer supporter to guide the person in need, to access these resources where they can receive more in-depth counselling and subsequent referral to relevant care needs, at higher acuity of care.

Mr Speaker: Ms Chen, actually, we are out of time, but I will allow you a very short supplementary question.

Ms Elysa Chen (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Thank you so much. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the answers as well. I wanted to ask whether the Ministry will consider more deliberately integrating peer support structures into the tiered care model for mental health, so that peer supporters in the community and workplaces are clearly recognised as part of the national mental health ecosystem with defined roles, referral pathways and outcome indicators.

I ask this because many times they are the first line of defence, and HR or a trusted adult or a peer can be someone who can make a difference.

Secondly, I would like to ask if the Ministry intends to ensure that strengthen peer support structures are accessible to groups who may be less likely to seek help through formal services, such as older adults, caregivers and persons in lower wage or more precarious forms of employment, and whether targeted outreach or tailored peer support initiatives will be developed for this for these groups?

Mr Speaker: Senior Minister of State Koh, I hope you will oblige with a short answer.

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Thank you, Sir. Sir, on the Member's first question whether peer supporters should be actually part of the formal network care. As I said in my reply, peer support is meant to be an informal scaffold around formal levels of support and I think we should not put a burden on them to be part of the formalised care structure. But they form a wider community of support around those with needs to help to guide them to the relevant resources that they can seek formal help for.

And the second question on what to do with the harder to reach population, that indeed is a big challenge. Because mental health is pretty much a silent disease. There is no external manifestation that you can see from far away. And so, the focus for us would be to increase education and also to put forth our community care teams, so that those with needs in the community, especially the harder to reach ones, if we know who they are, we can then find a way to reach out to them and encourage them to step forward and seek care.

10.34 am

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. The Clerk will now proceed to read the Order of the Day.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]