COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH TEAM IN SINGAPORE

Introduction: Mental disorder has been becoming a well-known disease which affects the function of both individuals and societies; however, the majority of mental illness patients from low or middle income countries have very little access to the treatment due to limited resources. Community mental health teams, on the other hand, provide more accessible and efficient care for patients with mental diseases. Objectives: To elaborate the service of the community mental health team in Institute of Mental Health by summarizing the personnel composition, working target, inclusion/exclusion/discharge criteria, and main services. To explore the current achievement by reviewing the data regarding number of referrals, number of active cases, and patients' performance ( number of admission and length of inpatient stay) from 2008 to 2012. To discuss illness management and recovery model and motivational interview which are started to use in our service recently. Results: The composition of the community mental health team and the role of team members, the working target and criteria, the main service and recent development have been elaborated in the article. From 2008 to 2012, we had received 852 to 471 new referrals and managed up to 986 active cases each year, at the same time, number of admission had been reduced between 60% to 77% and length of inpatient stay had been decreased between 61% to 79% every year. Conclusion: The community mental health team is a multidisciplinary team which provides rehabilitation, psycho-education and support to the patients and their family, works towards motivating and training patients to be independent living and working in community.