An easy read with a “how-to” intent, this book provides the insights and process of a practical and viable community mental health team. The authors of the book have produced a book which is as close an account to the reality of making the REACH team a value add to the mental wellness of students. This is the first book in Singapore that details the synergy of the various levels of decision making to enable a child and adolescent community mental health team to take shape, allowing hospital staff to reach students and service providers in primary care.
Sample Chapter(s)
Foreword (26 KB)
Introduction (166 KB)
Chapter 1: The Vision (1,460 KB)
Contents:
- Introduction (Brian Poh & Cai Yiming)
- The Vision (Tay So Leng, Chan Mei Chern and Daniel Fung)
- Mental Health OutREACH: Processes and Services (Cheryl Lee)
- Supporting Schools: Strengthening the First Line of Defence for Students with Mental Halth Difficulties (Wong Hui Yi and July Lies)
- Partnership with VWOs (Estella Lim and Liew Shiang Hui)
- Partnership with General Practitioners (GPs) (Sim Wan Hua)
- Resources (July Lies)
- Taking Stock and REACHing Beyond (Delphine Koh, Jillian Boon, Daniel Fung, John Wong, Chan Mei Chern, Cheak Ching Cheng and Han Bing Ling)
Readership: Providers of services for children and their families; practitioners who are interested in program development for communities external parties who want to learn about community outreach services; REACH's partners (school counsellors, GPs, voluntary welfare organisations, etc.); mental health care professionals and school counsellors in other countries, policy makers, administrators (including those financing and supporting the operations), educators, community agency counsellors, graduate and post-graduate students who conduct research on community mental health services.
“REACH is a remarkable accomplishment. REACH has fulfilled a goal of providing an approach to the provision of quality, comprehensive child mental health care in community settings that many have talked about but few have been able to achieve. REACH represents a model that goes beyond Singapore and should influence programme development for child mental health globally. This book provides the rationale and guide for implementation in a very accessible and forthright manner that will be useful to a wide audience. No longer will responsible authorities be able to say that there is not a way to understand how to develop child mental health services.”
Professor Myron Belfer
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School &
Senior Associate in Psychiatry, Children's Hospital, Boston
“The REACH Chronicles
describes the ‘Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health’ (REACH) program in Singapore. The program begun in 2005 and now already comprises REACH mobile teams based on three hospitals servicing more than 350 schools. The book describes, sprinkled with case examples, the philosophy underlining the program — to go where children are — and how schools and other agencies are engaged to provide an empirically-based care for the mental health of young people. Individuals, health services and governments wanting to improve the mental health of children will find in it a wealth of useful information.”
Professor Joseph Rey
Professor of Psychiatry (Head) at University of Notre Dame, Sydney
“The early years of a child are a period of considerable opportunity for growth and vulnerability to harm. Singapore has made remarkable achievements in improving maternal and child health in the last five decades since its independence. The infant and under-5 mortality rates are amongst the lowest in the world. Our challenge in the next decade is to match the improvement in mental health and social well-being of our children and adolescents with that in their physical health. Such efforts must go beyond the boundary of medical care to involve education, social and community support. The REACH Programme is a major multi-disciplinary initiative to bring holistic health to our children growing up in Singapore.”
Professor Ho Lai Yun
Director, Child Development Programme, Ministry of Health, Singapore
