\n<\/p>\n
Across the system, the pressures look different but are just as challenging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Having worked in hospital, primary care, and community and prison settings, senior counsellor Roxanne Koh said that demand for mental health care services has risen sharply in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n She is a senior counsellor at Filos Community Services, a community-based social service agency that provides subsidised mental health support outside the hospital system. She also runs her own private practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In community care, clients often present with multiple, overlapping issues, from mental health conditions to caregiving stress, financial difficulties and social isolation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These require not just counselling, but coordination with families, social services and healthcare providers, Ms Koh said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “In hospital and community mental health settings where I have worked, counsellors rarely do just counselling.”<\/span><\/p>\n Counsellors often provide accessible support for emotional and relational issues, while psychologists draw on their more specialised clinical training to assess, diagnose and manage more complex conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ms Koh said that counsellors in these settings also take on case management, crisis response, outreach, and significant administrative work alongside direct clinical hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She added that no single part of the work\u00a0<\/span>is overwhelming on its own, but the combined demands could leave little time for reflective practice, which she described as a structural matter rather than one specific to any single organisation.<\/span><\/p>\n Ms Koh and Ms Ooi’s experiences reflect how structural issues, high overheads and a shortage of mental health professionals are among the constraints that Singapore must overcome as it ramps up mental health services to meet rising demand from a population increasingly mindful of its mental well-being.\u00a0<\/p>\n Across the board, clinicians and experts said that demand for mental health support has risen sharply in recent years, especially after COVID-19.\u00a0<\/p>\n This was driven by greater awareness and life stressors, with more people seeking help and presenting with increasingly complex needs.<\/p>\n The 2024 National Population Health Survey found that the prevalence of poor mental health was the highest among younger adults aged 18 to 29 years,\u00a0<\/span>at 25.5 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, one academic said that increasing the number of mental health professionals is not an overnight process, given the time required for training\u00a0<\/span>and honing\u00a0their skills in practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Tan Bhing Leet, director of the health and social science cluster at the Singapore Institute of Technology,<\/span> also said that expanding the mental health workforce is not simply about increasing numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is ensuring\u00a0<\/span>that practitioners have the clinical experience and supervision needed to deliver effective, evidence-based care as well.<\/span><\/p>\n If workforce expansion prioritises numbers over supervision and competency, it could dilute the quality of the services rendered, she added.<\/span><\/p>\n An imbalance may also occur, where lower-income service users with chronic mental health conditions face <\/span>longer waiting times<\/span><\/a>, compared to self-paying service users who can afford services in the private sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n