#Newsflash: Provide mental wellness centres to help stressed, depressed residents: Darryl David

A decentralised, community-based approach to mental health support can also help build awareness and encourage receptivity to those facing such issues, says the MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC.

SINGAPORE: Member of Parliament (MP) Darryl David on Tuesday (Apr 5) called on the Government to provide community-based “mental wellness centres” to aid stressed and depressed residents.

On the second day of the Budget debate, Mr David spoke of the struggles faced by less well-off individuals with multiple dependents - those who have young children and who are also caring for spouses or ageing parents.

“Should the difficulties they face as providers and caregivers be compounded by the fact that they are from a lower income strata, then we have all the elements of a perfect storm of stress,” he said.

“And with the economic slowdown and the shadow of structural unemployment looming, this storm of stress will explode into a typhoon of trauma should they lose their jobs.”

While Mr David acknowledged that the Government had put in place social safety nets to keep financial and medical expenses low, he said help must be given to such individuals to cope with the “emotional and psychological burden” of being caregivers simultaneously to two groups of dependents while dealing with their own personal issues and challenges.

To that end, he proposed the establishment of “mental wellness centres” which offer solutions to problems stemming from stress or mild depression.

“Unfortunately, mental wellness is still very much stigmatised in Singapore, where Singaporeans equate a visit to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) with schizophrenia or some other catastrophic mental health issue. Many of my residents still colloquially refer to IMH as an insane asylum,” said Mr David.

“Perhaps a decentralised approach to mental wellness could be a better way to build community awareness around stress management and mild depression. This will also encourage residents who need such services to be more receptive to getting help.”

Providing easily accessible mental health support will be increasingly important as Singapore searches for ways to manage the pressures of the looming economic challenges, Mr David concluded. “I believe this is important."



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