New scheme to help traumatised children in the community

A new programme has been launched to build up a pool of therapists to help deal with traumatised children within their communities.

Launched on Wednesday morning, the three-year pilot project will train 60 therapists amd counsellors from schools and other community organisations. These will be able to help an estimated 1,920 children and caregivers.

Named Temasek Cares Kids in Tough Situations (Kits), the programme is a collaboration between non-profit organisation Temasek Cares and KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

It aims to give traumatised children access to therapy within their communities.

Apart from the pool of therapists, it will also reach out to about 7,000 people such as teachers and parents through talks.

Temasek Cares Kits is part of an initiative called Stay Prepared, which aims to help Singaporeans build up community resources to deal with emergencies. These include environmental disasters, or health-related crises such as the Sars epidemic.

Funding for Stay Prepared comes from the $40 million Temasek Emergency Preparedness Fund, which was launched last month. An estimated $1.5 million of this has been set aside for Temasek Cares Kits.

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