Support for athletes’ mental health

Response to parliamentary question on Government’s support for national athletes’ mental health.

Written PQ 5138. Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) for each year in the past five years, how many national athletes have sought psychological support; and (b) whether the Government does periodic assessments of the mental health of athletes under the Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) programme.

1. Under the Sport Excellence (spex) programme, all national carded athletes, including athletes under the spexScholarship programme, receive support for their overall psychological and mental well-being.
2. As part of regular medical check-ups, all national carded athletes take a well-being survey that screens for possible psychological and mental distress, including eating and sleeping disorders. Cases requiring attention are flagged and assessed by the Singapore Sport Institute’s (SSI’s) sport science team. If clinical expertise is required, they will be referred to the Singapore Sport and Exercise Medicine Centre (SSMC@CGH) for follow-up with a trained psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.
3. For comprehensive details on mental health support for our national athletes, the Member may wish to refer to the Ministry’s responses to Dr Wan Rizal and Ms Hany Soh’s Parliamentary Questions on 13 September 2022 and 5 October 2021 respectively.