As Singapore has moved into Phase 3 of its reopening, most of us are able to leave our homes freely to tap on our social support network to help us cope with daily work and life stresses. We hang out with friends at restaurants, shopping malls, and attend special events. This provides reprieve for our general well-being. 

However, this has not been the experience of our migrant workers. Migrant workers are still not permitted to leave their dormitories for social gatherings. They will have to seek permission from the Ministry of Manpower each time they need to leave their dormitories for specific essential errands such as medical appointments, work pass errands, and banking services. This continues to restrict migrant workers’ movements, reducing their avenues of coping and hinder workers from seeking help when they face difficulties. 

As the mental health of migrant workers continue to be a grave concern, we see the need to continue a crisis management helpline and mental health intervention with native speakers to attend to the mental health needs of workers and to continue to provide casework support, group work, risk assessment and preventive mental well-being intervention for migrant workers.

What are we raising funds for?

Increasing Competency of Volunteers

We hope to train 35 volunteers (including our Bengali and Tamil volunteers) in Psychological/Mental First Aid or Suicide Intervention to build volunteer competency. This will enable our volunteers to better handle cases of immediate crisis and suicide intervention.

This supplements our internal training that already equips volunteers to problem solve employment related concerns. We also hope to reimburse volunteers for phone top-ups that they might have to incur while volunteering.

Operations, collaterals and incorporation
We hope to print infographic posters and informational cards and purchase mental health training materials to equip migrant workers to be first responders onsite. We also hope to incorporate Here With You as a registered organization so as to operate more formally and employ web services such as a virtual phone line, database system and website.

An Administrator

We need to employ an administrator to coordinate real-time case assignments between a care professional (social worker, psychologist, counsellor and native speaker volunteer, manage the rostering of volunteers and upkeep a database of sensitive information.

Fundraiser target: $48,000

Who are we? 

Here With You- Migrants’ Helpline (https://www.facebook.com/herewithyouhelpline) was started in April 2020 by a group of social workers in response to the spread of COVID-19 cases within the dormitories. We were concerned about the mental health, and unmet needs of migrant workers. Our diverse group of volunteers includes native speakers (Bengali and Tamil), mental health professionals and migrant workers operating together to serve our migrant friends. Since we started, we have handled more than 1700 calls from migrants, and have inducted more than 100 volunteers.

What do we do?

Basic risk assessment and management: We provide Psychological First Aid, risk assessment of self-harm or suicide ideation and interpretation support for migrant workers in distress. We have received referrals from the Ministry of Health and the National CARE Helpline for workers in quarantine who are emotionally dysregulated. We have also worked with the Ministry of Manpower in supporting migrants’ mental health prior to their repatriation.

Problem solving with workers when they encounter unpaid salaries, unreported work injuries, forced repatriation, difficulties in accessing healthcare, non-provision of food and challenges in transferring employers. 

Providing updated information on policies and combating fake news.

Liaising with other help-providing NGOs and government institutions (MOM, MSF, MOH) for casework follow-up.

Educational groups, to provide timely information on statutory rights, MOM’s policies and improving mental well-being.

Support groups, to build mutual support among workers who are mentally and emotionally distressed, and for workers facing challenges with their  statutory claims.

Collaborate with ground-up migrant groups to provide public education on mental health and employment-related issues, and bolster informal support for migrant workers.

We have been featured on:
Berita harian: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3719616154718233&id=141669345846283

Mothership: https://mothership.sg/2020/10/migrant-workers-mental-helpline/

About Ray of Hope

100% of your donations to Ray of Hope go to people in need. We do not take a cut from the funds. We even cover 3rd party credit card charges that other crowdfunding platforms deduct from your donation for campaigns.

100% of all campaigns are also fully verified, so you know your funds goes to real people with real needs.

We take donor accountability very seriously – with yearly audited accounts and strong governance in place to ensure that your donations is properly channeled to the beneficiaries.

Ray of Hope is a registered charity and a member of the National Council of Social Services.