Silver Ribbon (Singapore) - Get Involved

Provision of Complimentary Emotional Support by
Silver Ribbon (Singapore)
Q & A

How do I know if I am in need of emotional support?
It is helpful for you to start talking to someone or contact us at 6386 1928 or info@silverribbonsingapore.com if you are ticking more boxes below:-
- I can’t sleep well
- I can’t eat well
- I can’t concentrate on my work/studies
- I can’t get along or communicate well with my family, friends, colleagues, classmates, etc
- I can’t feel joy and happiness
- I can’t manage my emotions
- I can’t cut down on my smoking, gambling, online gaming, drinking and other habits which is/are disruptive to my health, relationship, studies, and/or work

Do I have to pay for emotional support provided by Silver Ribbon (Singapore)?
We are providing emotional support to the community and our clients. And, it is totally free of charge.

How do I receive emotional support?
Mode of delivery include
- Face to face session at our office
- Phone call
- Whatsapp call/video
- Microsoft Teams
After fixing their appointment, clients are advised to arrive on time for onsite sessions and ensure that their IT equipment, mobile phone and internet connection are in good working condition for online sessions.

Do you conduct house visit as I am old & not IT savvy and have mobility impairments?
We will process requests on a case-by-case basis and appreciate the cooperation of the client to be
- present during our visit after confirming the arrangement, and
- update us in advance if they would like to postpone or cancel their request for house visit

I suspect that my classmate/colleague/neighbour/staff/student/team member is having a mental health condition, please help to contact them and fix an appointment for them.
We appreciate your concerns for your classmate/colleague/neighbour/staff/ student/team member, and propose for you to share our contact details with them as we are unable to proceed to contact them or fix an appointment for them without their consent.

I have advised my spouse/child, who has been feeling stressed out lately, to fix an appointment with Silver Ribbon (Singapore) for complimentary emotional support, please share your discussion with me so that I would know how to support him/her.
We are supposed to keep our discussion with our clients confidential and will keep next of kin updated unless it is pertaining to life threatening issues.

And, you may wish to fix an appointment with us if you are in need of advice on mental health and wish to learn more such as ‘how you could support them’ and ‘what are mental health resources available’.

My spouse/child has fixed an appointment with Silver Ribbon (Singapore) for complimentary emotional support and I would like to join him/her at his session.
We will check with your spouse/child on their comfort level for you to join them before the commencement of the session.

Will my workplace/ school be updated when I fix an appointment with you for complimentary emotional support?
We are supposed to keep our discussion with our clients confidential and will keep next of kin updated unless it is pertaining to life threatening issues.

In fact, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practies (TAFEP) has updated its guidelines in Jan 2020 and advises employers that they “should not ask job applicants to declare personal information such as their mental health condition unless there is a job related requirement.”

I don’t understand why you have set up a token system and hope you could share more about how does it work.
We have decided to set up the token system when a handful of clients failed to turn up and/or present without a valid reason for the postponement/cancellation of the appointment they have fixed.

By making effort in notifying us with a valid reason in advance, we could actually release their slot and attend to those clients who are truly in need of advice and support.

Therefore, to address this issue, we will issue the number of tokens to the clients according to the month they first contacted us and it will be deducted once they fix an appointment for complimentary counselling session or cancel/postpone an appointment without a valid reason.
- Jan - 12 tokens
- Feb - 11 tokens
- Mar - 10 tokens
- Apr - 9 tokens
- May - 8 tokens
- Jun - 7 tokens
- Jul - 6 tokens
- Aug - 5 tokens
- Sep - 4 tokens
- Oct - 3 tokens
- Nov - 2 tokens
- Dec - 1 token
It is non-transferable and clients will not be able to carry forward the remaining tokens to the following year.

Are your clinical staff qualified to provide emotional support as I do not want to be a guinea pig? Are you doing anything to ensure that they are adhering to the ethics & guidelines while doing their job?
We recruit those clinical staff who have completed at least a bachelor degree in Psychology, Counselling or Social Work and show keen interest in serving in the mental health industry.

They will then be placed under their 3-month probation where they will
- Be briefed on their role & responsibilities, mental health landscape, basic mental health knowledge and mental health resources available in Singapore during their Orientation
- Observe how phone queries are being handled and emotional support is being provided to our clients during the 1st month of probation
- rovide emotional support under supervision during the 2nd month of probation
- rovide emotional support independently during the 3rd month of probation
In addition, we will
- Assess their competency, passion and readiness to serve the community and our clients
- Monitor their performance and working attitude closely
- Take prompt action against those staff who have bad working attitudes, do not adhere to guidelines, ignore instructions, and/or fail to make improvement after we have done our best in making accommodation for them

What are you doing to promote good mental wellbeing among your clinical staff?
To ensure that our clinical staff are not too stressed out, we will
- check in with them regularly
- hold meetings with them on weekly basis where they could share their concerns & challenges (if any) on a weekly basis
- acknowledge their concerns, take prompt actions to address them and make accommodation
- remind them on the importance of self-care and encourage them to
  - approach the Management for advice and support when they face any challenges
  - take a break when they are mentally disturbed by their personal issues and could not focus on their work
- block one working day in the month of November as ‘Self Care Day’ for the team to have a nice meal together, do nothing and rest their mind

Are the clinical staff given the opportunity to upgrade themselves?
To encourage them to upgrade themselves and serve the community & our clients better, we
- offer confirmed clinical staff an annual training budget of S$1000
- keep confirmed clinical staff updated on a list of mental health training sessions provided by recognised agencies
- provide opportunities for confirmed clinical staff to attend/present at local and overseas mental health conferences/events if they have good working attitude and good performance
- reward them with a good performance bonus and a promotion if they continue to maintain good working attitude and good performance

I have bad experience with an agency which made me waited for 2 – 3 months. What is your waiting time to fix an appointment?
While we do experience high turnover rate at times and will try our best in responding to requests within 7 working days.

I would like to request for a clinical staff who shares the same faith, gender and race.
We will recruit clinical staff regardless of their background, faith, gender & race and will deploy next available clinical staff to attend to our client.

Will the session be recorded?
While we will not be recording the session as a respect for our clients, we will note down the sharing so that
- Our clients are not required to repeat their story during next session
- The next clinical staff will be able to refer to it during next session

What is the duration of each session?
The duration of each session is up to 1 hour and the session might be shorter once the client’s condition has stabilised or is feeling better and more confident to move on.

Will the session be automatically extended if I arrive/log in late?
To be fair to other clients, we standardise our practice by
- Holding the slot for 15 mins for those clients who arrive/log in late
- Making sure that the session will be ending on time and not be extended

What is the frequency of my sessions?
It depends on a list of factors such as the severity of your condition and support network.

And, we will increase the frequency for those clients who is coping with a moderate-severe mental health condition or loss of their loved one or their pet, and have zero or limited social support.

I would like to increase the frequency of my session from monthly basis to weekly basis as I am alone and have no friends?
As mentioned, the frequency of the sessions depends on the severity of the mental health condition and amount of social support available. And, you may wish to find more about befriending service which is available in Singapore if you are feeling lonely and need someone to talk.

As I have a mental health condition, my family members have been giving in to me and tolerate my hot temper. Hence, I am expecting the same treatment from your clinical staff.
To maintain a good working relationship between a client and clinical staff, mutual understanding, respect will be much appreciated.

We recommend for both parties to pause the session and have a 10-min time out if the client starts raising his/her voice at our clinical staff or being abusive towards our clinical staff.

And, we shall request for police assistance if the client continues to be abusive after the 10-min time out.

Am I right that I could give up my treatment since you are providing complimentary emotional support?
It is advisable to discuss this issue with your psychiatrist before giving up your treatment before giving up your treatment.

What exactly is your clinical staff doing during the session which is up to 1 hour?
Our clinical staff will be providing basic emotional support by
- inviting our clients to
  - share their concerns & needs,
  - discuss on ways to address them,
- advising our clients on self-care tips
- updating our clients on mental health resources available
They will not be able to
- diagnose the clients
- certify that a particular client is having a mental disorder
- dentify which party is at fault
- conduct therapy sessions and mindfulness sessions
- solve the problems for the clients
- issue letter of certification to clients to excuse them from classes, work, and court hearings

Do you counsel individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental Retardation and/or Learning Difficulties
We are unable to support individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental Retardation and/or Learning Difficulties as we have limited knowledge on this area and do not wish to give wrong advice.

How could I provide feedback on my session?
You may email us at info@silverribbonsingapore.com and we will respond within 3 working days.

As we have come a long way to build our organisation, we take all feedback seriously and see the need to improve our service.

How could I show my appreciation for the good service provided by your team?
You may wish to support us by
- Updating your loved ones and friends on the importance of mental health
- Looking out for warning signs of common mental disorders such as disturbed sleep, poor appetite, low mood, etc, among your family members and friends and encourage them to seek early help
- Signing up to volunteer with us @ info@silverribbonsingapore.com
- Making a donation to Silver Ribbon (Singapore) via PayNow (Our UEN No is T05SS0315B) and emailing us at info@silverribbonsingapore.com your personal details including your full name, NRIC number, and the date, time & amount of donation you made. Please note that we will issue tax deductible receipt only after receiving our bank statement.