Youth with mental health issues
Contents
Definitions and Scope
Target Population: [name of target group]
[identify target group and define who is included or excluded in this category: you want to get it just right: not too broad that it includes those you may not want to include, and not too narrow that it excludes those you want to help. You might be too exclusive: e.g. defining ‘vulnerable’ seniors as ‘low-income’, but you may want to include those without family support. Therefore, you may want to define vulnerable as ‘poor and/or with low family support’. You might be too inclusive: e.g. ‘latchkey kids’ may include those who have working parents, or those with serious behavioural problems.]
According to the National Youth Council, youths are categorised as those between 15 to 35 years old in Singapore. Globally, youth mental health researchers tend to categorise youths as those between 16 to 24 years old.
Client Segments
Youth suicides
Youth suicides have risen to a 15-year high. 27 young people aged 10 to 19 killed themselves in 2015. This was twice as many as in 2014 and the highest in 15 years.(ST 20 Sep 2016).
Self-harm
Cyber-addictions
Cyberbullying
Size of the Problem
[Size of the universe (size of total potential need/demand for services)] [Size of expressed need (those receiving services and on waitlist)]
According to international research, 1 in 5 of youths globally will encounter a mental health issue.
According to the Singapore Mental Health Study 2010, 2 in 3 do not seek help. While the ratio might be lesser for youths, given greater awareness of support services and increased normalisation of help-seeking facilitated by national level anti-stigma campaigns like the Beyond The Label campaign, the treatment gap and years lost to disability by duration of untreated mental illness continues to be significant, especially given that our people are our only resource.
Desired impact for target group
[If we have no conception of what counts as a ‘good death’, ‘social inclusion’, ‘engaged youth’ , then it would not be possible to determine whether our policies and services are performing well]
Needs of [insert client type]
Clients identifying as LGBTQI
Need for [ insert description ]
[Needs should not be identified in term of its specific solutions—eg youths need mentoring, seniors need hospice care, people with disabilities need day care (these are specific solutions we can be in the next column)—Instead, they should be defined in more ‘perennial terms’ because the solutions can change but the needs remain; I don’t need a CD player, or even an mp3 player, I need ‘portable music’ and currently the best solution seems to be Spotify]
[Also indicate the size of this specific need & projected demand were data is available]
Existing Resources
[e.g. existing services or programmes both private or public; relevant policies and legislation]
Gaps and Their Causes
[Some gaps could be due to 1) capacity of solution to meet size & projected demand, 2) quality of solution (effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, scalability etc.), 3) accessibility (geographical, cost to client)]
Possible Solutions
[Based on the specific gaps and reasons for those gaps, what might be solutions that can help? Insert existing but untapped resources, or new ideas that have not been considered yet]
Need for [ insert description ]
Existing Resources
Gaps and Their Causes
Possible Solutions
Need for [ insert description ]
Existing Resources
Gaps and Their Causes
Possible Solutions
Need for [ insert description ]
Existing Resources
Gaps and Their Causes
Possible Solutions
Need for [ insert description ]
Existing Resources
Gaps and Their Causes
Possible Solutions
Resource Directory
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS)
SAMH Youth Reach
Tiong Bahru
Publication by ground-up initiative and Singapore's largest online student and Reddit community SGExams which discusses the impact of Singapore's education system on mental health among students, among other matters. The book is novel for its analysis of website and reddit inputs from the student community.