Earlier and more accessible help with mental health distress may soon be available to teens and young adults in Singapore, thanks to development of an evidence-based support intervention that can be delivered by primary health workers and trained volunteers.
CEI and our collaborator Professor Bryce McLeod are partnering with youth support agency Impart and The Majurity Trust Musim Mas BlueStar* Fund to develop, test and implement a flexible, localised and modular set of mental health support practices. The practices are being developed using a participatory, co-design, common elements approach.
More accessible and timely support for young people exhibiting anxiety, depressive symptoms or substance abuse is the goal – preventing escalation and further harms.
“The number of adolescents attending Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health for depression rose by 60% between 2015 and 2020, and suicide is the most common cause of death for Singaporeans aged 10 to 29. Clearly, we need to get support to more young people more quickly.” says CEI Director in Singapore, Dr Cheryl Seah.
“Existing services in Singapore are insufficient to meet growing demand: there is limited awareness, funding and professional resources. And existing social services are generally working across entire communities, meaning they often do not adequately address the specific mental health needs of young people.”
A growing body of research highlights the benefit of integrating mental health care into primary health systems, to bridge treatment gaps. Equipping non-specialists (such as GPs, educators, youth workers or community volunteers) is viewed as a promising solution – which is where this new support intervention is focused.
“By drawing together local and global research with on-the-ground practitioner expertise and young people’s lived experience, we’ll distil and document a set of therapeutic practices that can be taught to non-specialists,” Cheryl explains.
“These might include techniques such as cognitive modification, interpersonal skills enhancement, problem-solving, stress management, relapse prevention and goal setting.”
“Making mental health support more affordable and accessible are obvious benefits of this approach. But there are also less obvious impacts: like the cost-effectiveness of earlier intervention, the ability to scale services to meet higher demand, and a reduction in mental health stigma through deeper community engagement.”
The use of common elements (also known as ‘practice elements’) is an emerging innovation now being successfully applied internationally in social service delivery. Identifying, articulating and deploying discrete evidence-based practices offers the ability to get to the core of what works.
Common elements can be taught, they can be applied flexibly in the field, and they can also complement existing social service programs or practices.
“We’re excited to be developing an evidence-based, real-world approach to supporting young people with mental health challenges,” says Cheryl. “We look forward to articulating and documenting a toolkit of support practices, and implementing the testing them in field over the next 12 to 24 months.”
More about the project
This two-year project will design, implement and test a flexible, modular intervention that can be easily delivered by lay-professionals to support young people facing mental health issues. Earlier intervention is the goal.
The research team are collaborating with Impart to distil the practice elements, then articulate these in practice guides and training resources. An implementation phase will focus on supporting the Impart team to put the practices to work, piloting feasibility with 70 practitioners and 140 young people. A feasibility study will inform refinement of the practices and the implementation plan, as well as identifying pathways for scaling and sustainment.
