Debated in Parliament on 12 Sep 2022.
Dr Wan Rizal asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether there is a timeline on the rollout of the SG Mental Well-Being Network programme, which includes the recruitment of community partners and volunteers.
The SG Mental Well-Being Network is an expansion of the Youth Mental Well-Being Network. Launched in July, the expanded Network aims to strengthen whole-of-society partnerships and citizen action, on mental health issues faced by Singaporeans.
The Network will serve as the partnership arm of the Interagency Taskforce on Mental Health and Well-being. It will first focus on strengthening community and peer support, and raising awareness through engagement initiatives to encourage help-seeking, tackle stigma, and improve mental health literacy. MCCY’s reply to Written Question No. 56 raised by Mr Christopher De Souza on the Order Paper on 12 September 2022 elaborates on the initiatives under these areas. We will subsequently expand our focus to include workplace and family support.
In terms of timeline, we have started our engagement with community partners and volunteers, as we need their support to succeed. The Network held a partnership event in July, with over 100 participants from the mental well-being space coming together to share ideas and opportunities for collaboration. Partners and volunteers will be able to tap on available grants such as the National Youth Fund and the Our Healthy Singapore Fund to fund ground-up initiatives.
For specific initiatives under the Network, MCCY will work with the Network partners to roll these out when ready. For example, we are working with partners, such as Happiness Initiative and the National Council of Social Service, to pilot Well-being Circles in a few grassroot divisions. We will review these efforts after they have run for a while, before scaling up.
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