Community Engagement Initiatives

As part of the Community Engagement Programme, students can collaborate with an organisation of their choice and act on their sense of social responsibility to contribute meaningfully to society. Community engagement does not only benefit communities, but enhances and improves an individual’s overall wellbeing.

Beyond strengthening one’s sense of belonging and social connectedness, community engagement also help students develop pro-social values as well as a greater sense of purpose by being a part of and connected to something bigger than themselves.

"Being involved in the community has been good for my wellbeing as I was able to strengthen my social support network. I forged new friendships with peers who made me feel emotionally safe and encouraged me to talk about my feelings. Serving the community made me happy and allowed me to look beyond my personal concerns." - Chloe Quek

Below are a selection of the community engagement projects where SUSS students have collaborated with community partners working in the field of mental health.

Caregivers Alliance Limited Singapore: A non-profit organisation in Singapore dedicated to meeting the needs of caregivers of persons with mental health issues through education and training.

Students raise awareness about mental health and challenges that caregivers face, and advocate for mental wellness and resilience through the following:

Year	Project Description
2019	Human Library Sharing Session – Caregivers were invited to share about their experiences and learn from each other as well as giving support to each other.
2020	Webinar on Mental Health Matters – Sharing by CAL about mental health, caregiver stress and burden, as well as call for participants to join and support Climb for Mental Wellness event that is part of the organisation’s #YOLO2020 campaign.
2021	s0ulsEngaged Podcast – A podcast series created and hosted by students to engage Singapore youths and young adults on the topic of mental health. Through the podcast and their social media page, the students aim to raise awareness by inviting guests to share stories about mental health experiences, recovery and caregiving journey, as well as share self-care tips.

Club Rainbow: A social service agency that supports and empowers children with chronic illness and their families by providing compassionate relevant services in their journey toward enriching life.

Students develop and conduct programmes that support the development of integrated social skills and values (i.e. teamwork, communication, problem-solving) in the children through games and activities

Institute of Mental Health: An acute tertiary psychiatric hospital that offers a comprehensive range of psychiatric, rehabilitative and counselling services for children, adolescents, adults and elderly.

Students befriend children to develop relationships and normalize lives of the patients.

Over The Rainbow: A mental wellness initiative from WholeTree Foundation that work towards propelling mental wellness to the top of life priorities and empowers young people on their mental wellness journey via holistic self-care and building a supportive community.

Students support the YOU.th Matters Programme that is specially curated to create empowerment and build mental resiliency in youths with tools for self-care and mental wellness. Students organised the December 2021 edition of the bi-annual event, Mental Wellness Festival, engaging the youth community through a series of talks, workshops and activities that allowed them to learn new skills for their mental wellness journey.

SAMH: A social service agency dedicated to improving the lives of persons with mental health issues through rehabilitation and reintegration as well as emotional support for their families and caregivers.

Year	Project Description
2022	SAMH Volunteer Stint (Tutoring for Youth) – Provide academic support to youths with mental health conditions through weekly tutoring sessions and assist them in learning/improve existing skills and knowledge in a particular subject.

SAMH Creative SAY! Centre: A preventive and wellness centre that serves the youth and young adult population through creative multi-modal learning and interventions. Using sports, outdoors, and creative therapeutic interventions to support youth mental-health, the centre also aims to empower youths to take an active role in personal and community well-being.

Year	Project Description
2020 - 2021	To build an ecosystem to provide holistic social support for youths and promote a culture of youth advocacy awareness of mental health to the community, OSLCE has curated two community-service learning project in partnership with SAMH (more details on the partnership can be found here): RIPPLES Mentoring Programme - Students conducted external community outreach sessions related to mental health and wellness conversations through creative approaches such as scrapbooking, blackout poetry, photography journaling, and psycho-education sessions to engage youths in how they can support their friends through emotional distress. Project Video Befriender – Students learned to create a documentary to promote community awareness of youth mental health issues. Their documentary features the recovery journey of a mental health warrior and portrays how an individual recovering can contribute and serve the larger community. The students also conducted in-person and online film sharing session to engage participants in conversations relating to mental health and share the importance of peer support.
2021 - 2022	Project Eat Move Create – In collaboration with SAMH Creative Services 10th Anniversary mental wellness campaign #EatMoveCreateSAMH, students have been creating vlogs to promote awareness on the importance of good mental health practices through eating well, keeping active and engaging in creative activities.

Year

Project Description

2020 - 2021

To build an ecosystem to provide holistic social support for youths and promote a culture of youth advocacy awareness of mental health to the community, OSLCE has curated two community-service learning project in partnership with SAMH (more details on the partnership can be found here):

RIPPLES Mentoring Programme - Students conducted external community outreach sessions related to mental health and wellness conversations through creative approaches such as scrapbooking, blackout poetry, photography journaling, and psycho-education sessions to engage youths in how they can support their friends through emotional distress.
Project Video Befriender – Students learned to create a documentary to promote community awareness of youth mental health issues. Their documentary features the recovery journey of a mental health warrior and portrays how an individual recovering can contribute and serve the larger community. The students also conducted in-person and online film sharing session to engage participants in conversations relating to mental health and share the importance of peer support.

2021 - 2022

Project Eat Move Create – In collaboration with SAMH Creative Services 10th Anniversary mental wellness campaign #EatMoveCreateSAMH, students have been creating vlogs to promote awareness on the importance of good mental health practices through eating well, keeping active and engaging in creative activities.

Community Engagement Initiatives

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Singapore University of Social Sciences

Community Engagement Initiatives

Caregivers Alliance Limited Singapore (CAL) (2019 – Present)

Club Rainbow Singapore (2021 – Present)

Institute of Mental Health (2016 – 2019)

Over The Rainbow (OTR) (2018 – Present)

Singapore Association of Mental Health (SAMH) (2019 – Present)