For those suffering from mental illnesses, feeling misunderstood can be a part of everyday life. That’s why being able to talk to someone who has battled mental illness can be an inspiring and empowering affair. In Singapore, this programme of having ‘peer specialists’ has been around for two years. Peer specialists are individuals who have made good recovery from their own mental illness and they play the role of friend, counsellor, and even mentor for those in recovery. However, being a peer specialist is no easy feat. They will need to be stable and have undergone a certification course by the Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH). This puts them in a unique position to understand, empathise, but at the same time offer help. And for patients-in-recovery, these peer specialists provide an immeasurable amount of support, akin to that of a family. Most of all, they offer them hope for a brighter future. To learn more about peer specialists, visit the SAMH website here.
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