Two mental health charities supporting youth and caregivers merge

Two mental health charities - one focused on youth, the other on caregivers - are joining forces in an ambitious bid to reach out to more people and journey with them as their needs change over time.

- Joyce Teo

Resilience Collective (RC), which has been around since 2018, focuses on facilitating peer-to-peer support groups for youth in mental health recovery. Meanwhile, Caregivers Alliance (CAL), which was set up in 2011, focuses on supporting caregivers.

While they may seem like odd bedfellows, integrating RC into CAL will bring together the young and the old to help deepen the understanding of mental health issues across generations. The merged entity's new brand is slated to be unveiled by July.

With the merger, more than 10,000 caregivers from CAL and approximately 2,000 individuals with mental health conditions from RC will gain access to an expanded range of services, including training and self-care tools. After welcoming RC's nine staff, CAL's staff strength will rise to 59.

The idea is to now add cross-age and cross-needs programmes, including peer support groups, to the existing services, to better support recovery. For instance, an individual will be able to attend such a support group with a parent or caregiver. But that is not all.

Mr Tim Oei, who became CAL's chief executive on Feb 1, said the new CAL wants to be a one-stop shop for community wellness for all - and not just people with mental health struggles.

To grow its suite of services, it is looking to collaborate with other social service agencies and even welcome others to merge with it.

The aim is to help individuals and families journey through their mental health challenges and find ways to resume everyday life, said finance industry veteran Hsieh Fu Hua, who co-founded both charities and chairs CAL's board.