| You can't avoid stress and anxiety in a city like Singapore, where kids spend their weekends in tutoring classes and young adults at the cafe tables next to you might be talking about why socioeconomic status matters when renting an apartment. Now, in a potentially major shift for a society where mental health is rarely discussed, many Singaporeans are seeing an increased need to ease the pressure — and the government has decided to do something about it. Singapore will set up a national mental health helpline and textline by mid-2025 to combat emotional distress, a possible step toward reversing the stigma attached to mental illness that can still prevent people from sharing their internal worries with people they know. The line was announced at biennial event The Young Singaporean Conference, whose theme this year was mental health. Through the service, trained counselors will answer calls and texts from those seeking help, briefly assessing their needs before referring anyone needing help to digital resources and in-person support, like therapy. It's part of a wider move by Singapore's government to address increasingly pressing mental health issues in its population, especially young people. The latest annual health survey showed 15% of residents experienced poor mental health — including difficulty concentrating; being too worried to sleep; and feeling stressed, unhappy, worthless and depressed — in 2023. The most vulnerable age group was 18- to 29-year-olds, with more than a quarter seeing their mental health suffer.
Instead of leaving the task to civil society or other private providers as is common in many other countries, the city-state's government is taking ownership of the initiative to offer mental support. Singapore launched a national well-being strategy last year, under which a national mental health office will be established by 2025. Some 10,000 front-line personnel will be trained and added to Singapore's existing 90,000 front-line mental health volunteers and personnel. Authorities also plan to set up new psychiatric nursing and rehabilitation homes. Stress on young Singaporeans comes from everywhere, including academic pressure and excessive social media use, Voon Yen Sing, deputy director of clinical services at the Singapore Association for Mental Health, told me. "Practicing self-care is not prioritized on top of the usual challenges of adolescence," Voon said. The efforts are a start. But while more people than ever are willing to seek help from professionals when they need help, mental illness — including suicidal thoughts — remains stigmatized in Singapore and many of its Asian neighbors. Several years ago, a survey from Singapore's National Council of Social Service found that only 40% of residents would be willing to live with a person who had a mental health condition, while just 60% wanted to work alongside them. "The helpline is essential because it offers an immediate listening ear," Voon said. "This initiative also helps reduce the stigma around seeking help, promoting a culture of openness and early intervention which is vital for improving mental health outcomes in the long term." —Karoline Kan | 
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