Text-for-advice phone service for youth in distress
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President Halimah Yacob, and Samaritans of Singapore chairman Lee Sook Fung launching the centre's new logo yesterday. With them are (from far left) former board member Philbert Chin, vice-chairman Chinnatamby Nandakumar, Mr Mah Bow Tan and Ms Christine Wong.
ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
Cheryl Tee
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Young people in distress can soon text for advice on a free phone messaging service by the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) that is slated to start at the end of the year.
The pilot service, which targets at least 200 users a month, will operate during office hours for a six-month trial period. Those seeking help and trained full-time SOS staff will be able to text back and forth on the service. It is part of SOS' efforts to reach out to at-risk youth.
Another initiative, which will be rolled out next month, is a training scheme on empathetic listening skills. Participants will learn how to listen to and respond to people.
SOS hopes to reach out to parents, caregivers as well as human resources and management personnel. The programme complements its three existing training workshops tailored for professionals in the social service sector.
SOS is Singapore's only crisis intervention and suicide prevention centre. With the new initiatives, it hopes to raise awareness of suicide prevention and build an accurate perception of suicide in Singapore.
Youth suicide prevention, in particular, has been in the spotlight after the number of teen suicides hit a 15-year high of 27 in 2015. In 2016, SOS' e-mail befriending service saw 71 per cent of incoming e-mails sent from people under the age of 30.
To appeal to young people, the centre is rebranding itself with a new logo and a revamped website, both unveiled yesterday. Officiating at the launch were President Halimah Yacob and Mr Mah Bow Tan, adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
The new blue, yellow and orange logo consists of the abbreviation "SOS" - with the letter "O" stylised as a flower - and the words "Samaritans of Singapore". This is the second time SOS has changed its logo since its inception in 1969.
Its website has been revamped to appeal to young people. It has a blog section where SOS will publish shareable posts on a regular basis.
"There is no point having a website (that) nobody visits," said SOS executive director Christine Wong.
National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, a patron of SOS, said: "Through this rebranding exercise, I hope that SOS will be able to enhance its outreach, and remain relevant and accessible to those who need help."
