SPEECH BY DR JANIL PUTHUCHEARY, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MDDI & MOH, AT THE SINGAPORE PSYCHOLOGY SYMPOSIUM 2025

        Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to join you here at this inaugural Singapore Psychology Symposium. Congratulations to the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) for putting this together, and for bringing together a community of practitioners and professionals like you in the room. 

A Changing Landscape for Mental Health

2        Over the past few years, we have seen a shift in public awareness and expectations around mental health. It is largely a positive shift in the last few years. But in recent memory, it was not so. If you think back to the COVID-19 pandemic, it underscored the importance of mental well-being, not just as an individual concern, but as a national priority. It was a period that tested our resilience as a people, but through our collective effort, we emerged stronger.

3        I think it is worth casting our minds back to that time. Going into the pandemic, we were very worried about the mental health of our people, of our friends and our family, that people would be isolated. We had some lessons that we learned coming out of it, because some of our assumptions were wrong. I don’t know if you recall, and some of you I would have spoken to at the time, we were very worried about the elderly and the mental health of the elderly going into the pandemic. Some of them were going to be living alone. Some of them were going to be potentially isolated. We had this assumption that it was the young generation that would be okay, being cooped up at home with nothing but their tablets, their laptops, and their online friends for company. The reality turned out to be the opposite, that the elderly, who had been through tough times in their life trajectory, actually had the grit and resilience to knuckle down, do what needs to be done, have some trust in each other, have some trust in society that is around them. It was the young, not having had that experience, that actually found it very difficult to be isolated and to have only the online friends for company. That was a very useful lesson about some of our assumptions and some of the lessons that we had to learn coming out of it. Those lessons then informed what we did coming out of COVID-19.

4        It did indeed help us come together as a country, and it did indeed strengthen our social cohesion and our trust in each other, and for want of a better word, faith in ourselves, that we were strong enough, cohesive enough, and resilient enough to engage with each other collectively, and look after each other’s well-being and mental well-being. 

5        Mental well-being has always been important. With the pandemic, the government recognised the need for a more coordinated mental health response, and those lessons, that experience, led to the development and the launch of the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy in 2023 – a framework that enhances our support structures, that addresses the full spectrum of mental health needs and the full spectrum of clients, patients, individuals that may need access to resources to support their mental health and well-being. 

6        A key pillar of this strategy is the tiered-care model. This organises our national mental health services into four tiers based on users’ needs and the intensity of interventions provided. Implicit in this, although not explicitly stated, is that the tiers also address the issue of risk. This approach helps to improve access to services, and we hope to avoid the unwarranted medicalisation of the services and the stigma associated with some of the services. So the government recognises the important role that psychologists play within our mental health ecosystem, especially at the higher tiers where more specialised support is needed for the care needs of those with moderate to severe mental health conditions, and where the service, the process, the support, the interaction that is provided, is associated with more risk.  I think, from the perspective of the public, that risk is about the service, the condition, the progress, the improvement of the client. You, as professionals, will also know that some of that risk is about your professional liability, and how you think about your business processes and your responsibility to the client, the standards of the profession. 

Raising Professional Standards 

7          As we enhance our mental health services through the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy, we acknowledge that more mental health services will be provided in the community, outside of formal institutions. There may be formal institutions within the community, and these are, by nature, porous with society, and so these would be community services structured in a different way, provided in a different way, accessed by the clients in a different way. So, we must raise the quality and safety of professional mental health care in tandem with this shift towards an increase in community-based services. 

8        I announced at the most recent Committee of Supply debate that the Government is now working towards the registration of psychologists and we have set up an inter-agency Implementation Committee comprising practitioners, regulators, academic institutions, the Singapore Psychological Society, and service providers from the public and private sectors to oversee this. 

9          Our plan for the registration of psychologists is based on our periodic assessment of the risk profiles of psychology practice and this need to ensure that care provided by psychologists remains appropriate and safe. There have been changes in psychological practice over the years. There has been an expansion in the roles that you as psychologists play and the settings in which you deliver care. The increased focus on mental health in recent years has strengthened this concern for additional safeguards to be put in place. 

10       Over the past year, the Ministry of Health has engaged SPS and other stakeholders to seek feedback, update our risk assessments, and lay the groundwork for this process that the inter-agency Implementation Committee is going to take forward. The ongoing process allows us to adapt our regulatory framework to emerging challenges and opportunities in healthcare. On this note, I would like to express my deep appreciation to SPS for the strong support and rapport that has been built up in approaching this point, not just support of the Symposium, but in support of what we are going to do to take the professional practice of psychology forward in Singapore. 

11       Many in this room support this step that we are taking, the registration and formalisation of the standards of practice. I think we all appreciate that this will better protect our clients. This will give our patients, our clients, their families, the reassurance and confidence about the services that they are engaging with, the treatment that they are receiving, and the ability to access the care that they need. This will enhance professional standards and within the community, for people looking to enter the community, and the education and development and training around the community. This will enhance public confidence in our psychologists and the services that they provide. 

12       Registration will also provide greater clarity and assurance. Psychologists who wish to practise in Singapore will need to possess these stipulated qualifications. They will need to be able to demonstrate the certain and necessary clinical experience to meet those standards, and these standards will be referenced to the international benchmarks and standards of the international community of practice that we are part of. Members of the public, then, will have the reassurance. They can then look for registered psychologists when they seek mental health care. This gives them the confidence that they are receiving services from qualified practitioners. 

13       The registration framework will establish clear guidelines on protected titles and the scope of services. Importantly, it will also include enforcement mechanisms to take actions against errant practitioners or those falsely claiming to be registered psychologists, ensuring the public is protected from unauthorised practice. 

14       We are mindful that these plans and steps that we are taking will have short and long-term implications. The registration is not going to be entirely easy to do. It is going to have some implications for the profession. For a start, we will focus on psychologists who provide direct client care, psychologists that perform higher-risk assessments and interventions, and psychologists whose practices may span across different sectors. The Implementation Committee is in the midst of defining the requirements for registration, including the scope of practice, the protected titles, and the entry qualifications. 

15       The committee will partner with SPS to jointly organise consultation sessions in the second half of this year, seeking feedback on the proposed registration requirements and the anticipated operational challenges that arise from the introduction of registration. Please participate in this consultative exercise, give us your feedback, let us know how this will impact the execution and the implementation of our plans, and what are the adjustment and the considerations we need to have. 

16       This partnership and feedback will go a long way in helping us calibrate the standards for registration, as well as to formulate plans to support your industry so as to minimise disruption to essential psychological services. We know that what you are providing as a service is essential to your clients, to the patients, current and future, as well as to their families. We want to make sure you are able to do so and to continue to do so well. Let us know. Come forward. Participate in the consultative exercise. The Committee is expected to complete its work in 2026 and we look forward to working with all of you towards this goal. 

Evolving Practice in Psychology 

17       With all these shifts, the role of psychologists has never been more important. Public discourse frequently focuses on provision of mental health services in healthcare settings. But many of us know that contributions by mental health providers, including psychologists, extend far beyond that. Psychologists in schools, in our social service agencies, in our workplaces, working with sports people, in various other performance domains, including in the military, play a part in strengthening Singapore’s social fabric. The mental health and well-being of everyone in all of the domains, regardless of what we are doing with our lives, is important. It strengthens our trust in each other. It strengthens our confidence in our social networks, and it strengthens our faith in ourselves to be able to cope with the vicissitudes of life, the challenges that we face, overcome them and become stronger as individuals, as families, as a society, and as a people. What you and your colleagues do, is important and we want to find a way for you to continue doing that well, engaging with the public and providing these essential services. 

Closing 

18       Psychologists have an important role to play in contributing to Singapore’s future success. Healthcare, social services, education, workplaces, or public policy, your work has a profound impact on the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. 

19       To the Singapore Psychological Society, congratulations on organising the inaugural Singapore Psychology Symposium. I look forward to this platform and today being a huge success. I very much look forward to the second edition whenever it comes. Thank you all very much.