webCHAT is a service operated by CHAT to provide youth mental health information and support to distressed young people who may be unsure about seeking help face-to-face. 

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.

You will be attended to by one of our professionally trained webCHAT youth support workers. 

We will do our best to be helpful to you. However, please understand that our webCHAT service is not intended to diagnose or treat mental illness/disorders​. Where necessary, we will link you to another resource or helpline that can serve your needs better. ​

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: 

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 ass​​essment.

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.
  

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

​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).​

Your safety and confidentiality are very important 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 the law, please understand that our webCHAT youth support workers are obliged to break confidentiality and contact the appropriate authorities for protection purposes. 

All our webCHAT youth support workers are professionally trained. As part of our continuous efforts to improve our service to you, our webCHAT youth support workers continue to attend training and supervision to help them stay effective in attending to your needs and concerns. 

For training and supervision purposes, we may keep transcripts of webCHAT sessions. Please be assured that all identifiers that could potentially link you to the transcript will be removed to protect your identity. 

​While we are committed to provide a safe and confidential online space for you, please be aware the internet is not a secure public network and there are potential risks that your text communication can be viewed, accessed or intercepted by third parties. If you are about to reveal any incriminating and potentially embarassing information about yourself, we strongly recommend that you consider calling our CHAT Hub at Tel: 64936500/ 01 instead. 

​Regulations and policies change over time. While we do our best to ensure that the information provided to you through our webCHAT service is accurate, we cannot guarantee or assume legal liability for accuracy, currency or completeness of the information. We also do not accept any liability for injury, loss or damage incurred through the use of or reliance on the provided information. 

Where necessary, we may refer you to other resources (including other websites) for further assistance. We do not assume responsibility for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information provided by these other resources. Please exercise due caution when downloading information from any website that we may refer you to, in order to protect yourself against viruses and other malicious software. 

​​​Parental consent is not required for CHAT services.