webCHAT is catered to young people aged between 16 to 30 (by birth year), who are currently living in Singapore.
You can reach out to us if you are:

• Feeling concerned about something happening in your life and you need someone to talk to
• Unsure about how to seek help for your mental health
  
• Looking for the suitable options for your mental health journey

As long as something is weighing heavily on your mind and causing you distress, you can reach out to us and we will do our best to provide you with the support and guidance that you require. We may not be able to “fix” everything in one session, but we can provide you with a direction and steps to take for the future.

We try to address your concerns as much as we can in one session.

While there is no limit to the number of sessions you can have with webCHAT, if you need longer term support, we can recommend more suitable options for you. 

Here are some tips for you on how you can prepare for a webCHAT session to get the most out of it: 

• As webCHAT is not mobile-friendly (yet), use a desktop or laptop for an optimal experience.
• Have a good and stable Internet connection (where possible) as it helps to minimize disruptions to your conversation with us.
• As each session lasts 60 – 90 minutes, consider what’s the most pressing issue you have currently, and bring that up at the start of the session.
• Focus on your chat with us as much as possible and give prompt responses.
• Refrain from multi-tasking, or leaving multiple browser tabs/windows open during the conversation.

As webCHAT is primarily a text-based service, it can be challenging to accurately detect one’s intent or tone sometimes. There are times where things can get lost in translation, such as the use of certain emojis, slang, sarcasm etc. Therefore, it helps to be clear and direct when describing your concerns to us, and feel free to correct us if we have misinterpreted something you have said.

It is common to be unsure of what to expect before you commence a webCHAT session with us, especially if you are new to it. Each session is different and experiences on online chats can vary widely.

Depending on the concerns that you present with and your preference, we may explore either one of these options with you after the webCHAT session:

• Share relevant support services in the community that might suit your current needs
• Provide a direct referral to these support services, with your consent
• Offer to speak with you further via our mental health check, so as to better understand your mental health concerns first, before providing recommendations of suitable professional help 
  

We want you to feel safe enough to tell us if you have thoughts of suicide or self-harm. We want to understand the distress you are going through so that we can refer you to the right services for further support and assessment.

That said, if the thoughts are too strong and you worry that you cannot keep yourself safe, please

• Reach out to the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) at www.sos.org.sg. If you call their hotline 1-767, please stay on the phone until someone attends to you.
• Or, head down to the A&E department of the nearest hospital.
  

It takes courage to admit you are struggling. We are glad you are reaching out for help and looking for ways to hold on to life. As much as we hope to support you in these times of distress, we believe your needs require more immediate attention and we urge you

• Reach out to the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) at www.sos.org.sg. If you call their hotline 1-767​, please stay on the phone until someone attends to you.
• Or, head down to the A&E department of the nearest hospital
  

Having contact with multiple services, particularly if they are not working together, can be unhelpful and confusing for you.
Do let us know if you are currently receiving support from another mental health service, in particular:

• Have seen a psychiatrist before, or awaiting an appointment to see a psychiatrist
• Receiving support from a counsellor

Often times, young people reach out in spite of being in contact with mental health services, because they are looking for something different. We may spend some time understanding your experiences with these services and exploring the next steps together.

Your confidentiality and safety are of utmost importance to us. We will not share your information with other organisations or individuals without your knowledge and consent.

However, in situations where your safety and/or that of others’ are compromised, or if there is trouble with the police and/or law, please understand that CHAT is obliged to break confidentiality and contact the appropriate authorities for protection purposes.​

​​Parental consent is not required for CHAT services.

We may keep a copy of this conversation as part of training and supervision purposes. However, please be assured that all identifiers that could potentially link you to the transcript will be removed to protect your identity.​

If there is a problem with your internet connection:

We would recommend using a desktop or laptop for optimal connectivity. If there is still a problem with connectivity, check your internet connection. If you are unable to reconnect, you can start a new chat when your connection is restored and let the webCHAT staff know that you were previously on webCHAT. Although it may not be with the same person, all webCHAT staff are well-equipped to take on your concerns as sensitively and attentively as possible.

If there is a problem with our internet connection:

Unfortunately, the system will not inform you if the disconnection occurs on our side. If you do not hear from us within 15min of the chat being disrupted, we probably need time to resolve the issue. You can email us at chat@mentalhealth.sg or call us at 6493 6500/01 instead.

If there is a problem with the chat platform:

We will post a notice on our social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram).