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IMH’s Medical Social Work (MSW)
department has been collaborating with the
Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to offer
care coordination support and training to
care centres and nursing homes. The aim is
to enable staff there to manage challenging
behaviours presented by some of their
residents with mental health conditions and
provide better care for them. This means
that patients with mental health conditions
have better chances of living in the
community for a longer term.
To ensure that IMH can render timely
support to the homes, Lee Kaiyi, Senior
MSW, IMH, is the appointed Single Point of
Contact for nursing home staff who face
difficulty in managing patients at their
facilities. In this role, Kaiyi, who is a recipient
of the Promising Social Worker Award 2016,
also coordinates the joint management of
residents who relapsed while in the homes,
and who needed readmission to IMH.
Since February 2016, the team has
conducted three training workshops with
IMH and 14 key community mental health partners joined hands to
organise a mass walk “Walk with us, Stamp out Stigma” along
Orchard Road on 8 October 2016 to commemorate World Mental
Health Day. The event, a first to be co-organised by the partners,
aimed to raise awareness of the importance of mental health in
personal wellbeing and to combat stigmatising attitudes towards
people with mental health conditions.
More than 1,200 participants took part in the walk, including Guest
of Honour, Speaker of Parliament and MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee
GRC Madam Halimah Yacob. Besides drumming up participation
for the walk, the community partners also organised a mini carnival
at *SCAPE that featured public outreach activities, talks and
performances.
The partners involved in the event were Agency for Integrated Care,
Alzheimer’s Disease Association, Brahm Centre, Caregivers Alliance
Limited, Clarity Singapore Limited, Club HEAL, Health Promotion
Board, MINDSET Care, National Council of Social Service, O’Joy
Care Services, Silver Ribbon Singapore, Singapore Anglican
Community Services, Singapore Association for Mental Health and
Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities. Plans are already underway for the
next World Mental Health Day event in 2017!
Stamp Out Stigma
Mdm Halimah Yacob, Speaker of Parliament and MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, leading the walk down
Orchard Road
Care Coordination and Trainingfor Residential Care Facilities
more than 200 staff from three care centres
and 20 nursing homes in attendance. The
trainers include MSWs, doctors and
Advanced Psychiatric Nurses from IMH.
Over 90% of the participants found these
workshops beneficial in helping them with
their day-to-day management of residents
with mental health conditions.
In addition, the MSWs conduct site visits and
provide assistance and counselling to staff at
these homes when there are critical incidents
involving patients with mental health conditions.
Carnival-goers enjoying the game booths
IMHLINKOCT - DEC
2016
AN IMH QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FOR PARTNERS
Serious games are designed for a primary purpose rather than pure entertainment. It is a
growing field of gaming technology which encourages learning and engagement through
mobile games. The team from the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry department at IMH
developed an innovative concept for
a mobile app that aims to bring
about better care for children with
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD).
The concept for the app named
ADHD Village: It Takes a Village to
Raise a Child is a virtual village that
promotes collaboration among
educators, caregivers and clinicians,
enabling close monitoring of the
children’s progress. This “village” also
serves as a platform for parents to
exchange ideas and tips within the
network as well as to gain access to
available resources.
In September this year, the team
behind the ADHD Village app competed among 100 others in the Health Innovation
Technology (HIT) Challenge 2016 and emerged as one of the top 10 finalists for their
concept. The HIT Challenge is jointly organised by the Infocomm Media Development
Authority of Singapore, National Healthcare Group, and Serious Games Association
Singapore. The team is currently seeking funding to develop the app.
App for Better ADHD Care
Since the beginning of the year, IMH has
grouped patients into four zones (East,
West, North and South) according to their
residential address and assigned them to a
fixed care team so that patients may receive
better continuity of care. With this
approach, patients see members of the
same multi-disciplinary team throughout
their care journey - from prevention, early
detection, treatment, and long-term care, to
support in the community.
This approach, called empanelment, is the
basis for population health management
and is one of the ways IMH is transforming
care delivery to achieve more seamless care
for our patients.
To do this, IMH has streamlined its
operational workflow and communications
processes for the inpatient, outpatient,
transitional, community, and allied health
settings for better care integration. For
instance, our staff now conduct a needs
analysis for discharged patients and link
them to appropriate care resources and
support in the community.
Another key initiative implemented under
empanelment is the assignment of a Single
Point of Contact (SPOC) to each patient.
The SPOC, identified based on the patient’s
needs, allows the patient and caregivers to
have fast and consistent access to
information when they require assistance or
have any queries.
The SPOC will also help to link patients and
caregivers to relevant services both within
IMH and the community. To this end, a
community resource list, based on
geographical region, for each panel of care
team has been compiled. The community
resource list is a comprehensive document
describing the capabilities and services
provided by the various community partners
within each region. Detailed referral
instructions and forms are also appended
within this document. With this list, the
SPOCs can match suitable community
partners to patients’ needs and make
appropriate referrals conveniently.
The next step is for each panel to establish
their own care and support networks with
One Patient, One Care Team
the community. The teams will focus on
developing closer working relationships with
our primary and community care partners in
the four zones so that our patients are
supported by community agencies that are
familiar with them. IMH is also looking to put
in place a single point of contact in the
community for our patients, just as they have
a single point of contact in IMH.
IMH’s Research Division is
spearheading the second nationwide
epidemiological study to establish the
mental health status of adult Singapore
residents. The survey, known as the
Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS)
2016, is a collaborative effort between
IMH, Ministry of Health (MOH) and
Nanyang Technological University. This
three-year, $4.9 million project is
funded by MOH and Singapore
Millennium Foundation of the Temasek
Trust.
The first SMHS conducted in 2010 had
successfully provided baseline
information on the mental health status
of Singapore adults. In addition to
evaluating changes in the prevalence,
risk factors and healthcare needs for
common mental illnesses such as
mood, anxiety and addiction disorders
in the previous study, the second
SMHS will also establish the prevalence
and impact of other key mental
conditions such as schizophrenia,
suicidality and hoarding. The societal
cost for mental disorders will also be
estimated.
Over the next one year, a total of 6,000
Singapore adult residents will be
interviewed across Singapore. This
second SMHS is timely and important
as it will also help evaluate the impact
of the various initiatives within the
National Mental Health Blueprint
targeted toward improving awareness
and accessibility of mental healthcare
services and enhancing the mental
health status of the population in
Singapore.
SingaporeMentalHealthStudy 2016
Team members from IMH: (from left to right) Ms Kala
Mehrotra, Principal Educational Psychologist, Ms Serena Lim,
Senior Special Education Teacher and Ms Suhana Manzur,
Senior Educational Psychologist
Strengthening Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange Mental health affects everyone and mental
health issues need to be addressed at all
stages, spanning the efforts and resources
of different agencies across the spectrum
of care.
To consolidate knowledge, coordinate
support and encourage cross-sector
collaborative efforts more effectively, regular
networking events were first introduced in
2010. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC),
Health Promotion Board (HPB), National
Council of Social Service (NCSS) and IMH –
have been jointly driving these yearly
platforms since.
This year’s Mental Health Networking Event
took place on 29 November, with a focus on
caregivers and caring for the elderly and
those with mental illness and disabilities.
Speakers from AIC and Caregivers Alliance
Limited (CAL) enlightened attendees on
existing services for caregivers, while NCSS
presented their design ethnography study,
which looks into difficulties faced by
caregivers navigating the care system. NCSS
also provided suggestions for new services
to better meet caregivers’ needs. Mdm Malar
Singam, Brahm Centre’s speaker also shared
her personal caregiving journey, which
encouraged many. The programme ended
with a lively and informative panel discussion.
More than 180 staff from the healthcare,
social service, and intermediate- and
long-term care sectors were present. Many
shared positive feedback on the opportunity
to learn about the larger landscape of
caregiving services in Singapore, as well as
the chance to network with others in the
mental health community.
Writing always came naturally to me but juggling motherhood
with life in the corporate world left me with little time to
indulge in writing. It was only in my late forties, when I
stopped working full-time, that I rekindled my love for
writing. I quickly realised how much pleasure it gave
me to be able to write at length. Writing also allowed
me to focus on something meaningful and gave me
the purpose and stability I needed.
Ever since I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
more than ten years ago, I have been diligent
about my medication. When I started writing my
first book in 2010, I wondered about my
medication’s impact on creativity. Halfway
through my manuscript, I was convinced
that I could write better by lowering my
dosage. I began to self-regulate my
medication and quickly realised it was
a mistake. My moods were less
stable and I was afraid to suffer a
relapse. So I resumed my dosage as
prescribed by my doctor and
continued writing.
When writing, especially when
I need to rely on my imagination,
I am tempted to lower my
dosage. But the risk is too great.
I tell myself it is not worth the
pain and agony for myself and
my family. With proper
medication, it might take me
longer to write, to create
characters and scenes and
dialogue but to me, extra time is a
small price to pay.
In late 2012, my memoir, Praying To The
Goddess Of Mercy, was published. Spurred by
the success of my first book, I began writing my
second book. My novel, Rain Tree, was launched at the
Singapore Writers Festival in November this year. Within
weeks, Rain Tree was placed on Kinokuniya’s “Essential
Reads” shelf. It was a triumphant
moment for me.
I am now working on my third book while
taking my prescribed dosage of medicine.
While some medication may compromise
creativity, I believe determination, along with
diligent medication and regular visits to my doctor,
prevail in how I function in day-to-day living.
Rain Tree is available at Kinokuniya.
MY SAY On Creativity
and Medication By Mahita Vas
Speaker and panellist, Dr Sally Thio from CAL responding
to a question from the floor during the panel discussion.
Season’s Greetings!AdvisorTing Mei See
Circulation CoordinatorChris Ngiam
EditorLalitha Naidu
DesignerNg Yee Choo
EDITORIAL TEAMContributorsFiona Foo, Corporate Communications
Vera Soo, Corporate Communications
Ng Si Jia, Corporate Communications
Lee Kaiyi, Medical Social Work
Siti Sohanah Binte Kasmani, Medical Social Work
Wu Peiqi, Community Psychiatry
Vaingankar Janhavi Ajit, Research Division
Institute of Mental Health, Singapore t (65) 6389 2000 | f (65) 6389 2986 | www.imh.com.sg | [email protected]
ASKTHE EXPERT
What is Motivational Interviewing? Motivational Interviewing (MI) is both a treatment philosophy and
a set of techniques which focus on the potential benefits of
change. MI is used to bring out and strengthen the motivation for
behaviour change. It is collaborative and respects an individual’s
choices, even if the individual chooses not to change.
How does MI work?MI draws on the individual’s own motivation and commitment by
examining his current behaviour and how it fits with his value
system. The main goal is to move the individual’s conversation
from sustain talk to change talk. For example, we want to move
the conversation from “I don’t have a problem and I am fine
where I am at the moment” (sustain talk) to “I think I should
change” or “I don’t think I can carry on this way anymore”
(change talk).
MI focuses on partnership and teamwork between the
practitioner and the individual. The MI practitioner is on equal
footing with the individual, highlighting his/her personal strengths
and instances where the individual had made behavioural
changes that reaped benefits. The MI practitioner draws out the
individual’s own thoughts and ideas about behavioural change,
rather than impose his own opinions and agendas.
When is MI used? It is used when an individual’s behaviour is affecting him or people
around him in a negative way. Sometimes the individual has difficulty
changing because he does not know how. At other times the individual
is simply indecisive about changing; MI helps to give clarity on the pros
and cons of changing.
MI was originally developed to treat problem drinkers. Through clinical
experience and research, MI has been found to be effective in various
settings. It is now also used to help those with substance use disorders
and individuals in education, prisons, leadership, staff management,
career coaching, sports coaching, healthcare and various other areas
where behaviour change is desired.
Can we draw on MI in our daily lives? MI is all about relationship building, good listening skills and
demonstrating empathy. It is also about offering suggestions or
alternative perspectives. Its collaborative and inclusive approach helps
to resolve conflicts or misunderstandings.
MI can help us communicate with our loved ones and encourage them
to make positive changes in their life without being intrusive or
confrontational, or having to use rewards and punishments.
Motivational Interviewing: Agent for ChangeBy Mr Viknesan, Senior Counsellor, National Addictions Management Service, IMH
All rights reserved. For re-prints of any article, please write to the Corporate Communications Department.
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