DigitallyUs: Singapore’s integrated digital wellness support

“From our work on the ground, we saw youth who were facing online struggles. They were scrolling, they were using social media excessively… What people (like parents and teachers) were missing were the drivers.

“Digital habits affecting emotional feelings is a fairly new phenomenon, so new that a lot of parents or caregivers themselves have not experienced this,” she noted.

“At DigitallyUs, we want to help parents understand what their children are facing online and the kind of pressures they are undergoing.”

The new space addresses this through four components. The first is outreach and advocacy which focuses on policymakers, school leaders and community stakeholders. It involves the building of a shared understanding of digital wellness and shaping how systems respond to emerging needs of young people so that support is not fragmented.

The second and core component of DigitallyUs is MINDCove – an immersive, sensory-based learning space where the youth step into guided scenarios that reflect real digital situations, such as cyberbullying.

“They learn to recognise their thoughts and emotions and practise how to regulate their responses in the moment. Here, parents also gain insight into their children’s digital and emotional experiences,” Tan said.

The third component is targeted intervention and counselling programmes for youth and families who need more structured support.

The final part is Connection Cove, a sustained recovery and support ecosystem that helps young people maintain their progress after intervention through peer mentoring and ongoing engagement with families.

Through DigitallyUs, TOUCH Cyber Wellness aims to engage more than 16,000 young people and parents over the next three years through school programmes, parent education, early intervention, counselling and ongoing community support.

The integrated care centre was officially opened on Aug 18 by Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies. Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, and Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming also attended the event.

Among the guests invited to experience MINDCove were Mithra Mahendran and Isaac Yeo, both 15-year-old students from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School.

They said the experience has opened their eyes to how they were using the internet.

“My doom scrolling needs to stop. Often I tell myself just one more video, then I realised I had scrolled through several and it was a waste of time,” Mithra said.

“We were shown scenarios of how cyberbullying can be subtle. We never realised what we were doing in group chats could be deemed as such,” said Isaac. “I have to be more sensitive to my friends’ mistakes and not pick on them.”