9 hours ago
SAMH launches festival to raise mental health awareness among seniors
SINGAPORE – While some seniors blended tea and others came together in a drumming circle, Madam Kamala Devi Marimuthu was rolling dice in a game of mental wellness snakes and ladders.
This adapted version of the childhood game encourages self-reflection by prompting players to answer questions related to everyday mental health challenges, and was among the 10 activities that seniors could partake in at an outreach festival organised by the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH) on June 20.
Madam Kamala found the game to be a dose of positivity. 'The volunteer who played the game with me was very friendly, he cracked a lot of jokes and made me really happy,' said the 80-year-old.
The inaugural SAMH Golden Connect festival, being held at the non-profit's Space2Connect integrated wellness centre in Jalan Besar, is aimed at raising awareness of challenges faced by senior citizens, such as social isolation and mental health issues .
Seniors aged 60 to 74 are the least likely age group to seek mental health support, whether from professionals or from their informal support networks, according to the 2023 National Population Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Health Promotion Board.
At the event, Central Singapore District Mayor Denise Phua underscored the importance of maintaining mental health as a person ages, given the close connection it has with physical well-being.
She highlighted instances of elderly loneliness in Jalan Besar, and encouraged seniors both to look out for one another and to tap the support of organisations such as SAMH, especially for cases that do not require institutionalisation.
'As we get older, so do our neighbours. So please be more compassionate...(not) every time something happens, we must send them to the Institute of Mental Health,' she said.
The festival also saw the debut of a mental health screening application powered by artificial intelligence that can detect symptoms of anxiety and depression for early intervention.
The application, developed by Singapore-based company Opsis Emotion AI, involves a series of questions and video clips to be watched.
As a person undergoes the 10-minute evaluation, the application assesses his emotional state through real-time analysis of facial expressions and body language, and produces a report for SAMH professionals to interpret.
Ms Jane Goh, deputy director of creative services and youth at SAMH, said the tool complements the association's existing face-to-face screening processes.
'This is useful for clients who might not be able to articulate their emotions very well but might still want to convey certain things,' she said.
The tool will be rolled out at SAMH's premises from June 20, and will eventually be extended to other age groups that SAMH supports, such as youth and adults.
Among the 200 people that attended the festival on its opening day was Mr Hassan Arshad, 76. He felt that the activities were very meaningful, and looked forward to joining more of SAMH's programmes.
Adjunct Associate Professor Lee Cheng, president of SAMH, said community outreach has been at the heart of the association's work since it was started in 1968, and remains a vital part of its efforts to support mental wellness across people's life stages.
He noted that the two-day festival involved numerous community partners, including the Jalan Besar Active Ageing Centre, Kallang CC Community Drumming Circle, and student volunteers from Republic Polytechnic, the Singapore University of Social Sciences, and Raffles Girls' School.
'Through strong community partnerships, we can bridge gaps, build trust, and make support more accessible,' he added. 'We want every senior to know they are not alone, and that care and joy are within reach.'
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