Pioneering Peer Support
&
Championing Peer-Led
Mental Health Recovery

PSALT Care (pronounced ‘Salt-care’) is an IPC Charity, established in 2014, to meet the service gap in community-based and peer-led mental health and recovery programmes in Singapore.

Pioneering Peer Support Services in Singapore

As the pioneering organisation championing peer-facilitated support groups, we have spearheaded the provision of services “for peers, by peers” supporting mental well-being and mental health recovery since our founding. 

First organisation running peer-led mental health support groups. Only organisation running peer support groups daily. 

We are recognised in literature on the growth of the peer support movement locally, as being the first organisation in Singapore providing entirely peer-led support groups for mental health recovery since 2014, in addition to being the only organisation running daily peer support groups throughout the week, including all Public Holidays, since April 2020. Our Peer Support Groups, and 1-to-1 Peer Support interventions alike, are based on evidence-informed recovery frameworks incorporated into our own innovative model of Peer Support provision. 

Our belief in and commitment to “the power of peer support in action” experienced during our peer-led groups is such, that we have provided consultation, trained, shared best practices and materials with other mental health charities and partners, helping them start their own peer support groups and services to benefit the wider peer community. Peer support truly makes a difference to recovery!

Championing Peer Support Specialist Employment. Breaking new ground with the first all-peer team. 

As champions for employment and career development opportunities for Peer Support Specialists (trained and certified by NCSS/SSI ) over the years, we broke new ground by being the first charity organisation with a team comprised entirely of Peers and certified Peer Support Specialists in our early years. Even today, as our range of peer-centric services has grown and our team has diversified to include multi-disciplinary professionals and clinicians (many of whom are also Peers and/or Peer Support Specialists!), we remain distinctive in having a majority Peer Support Specialist team. 

When it comes to our Board-led Programmes and Services committee, we have an equal representation of Peer Support Specialist committee members, ensuring our services remain peer-centric and co-developed with peers as priority. 

Sharing our Peer Support Specialist employment & services-provision journeys. Building competencies  & new knowledge nationally.

PSALT Care is privileged to be recognised for our specialised experiences in the employment of Peer Support Specialists and Peers, with our management invited by national agencies and community partners to share at the Singapore Mental Health Conference and other Conferences. 

We are especially proud of our Peer Support Specialist team members who are often invited to share their experiences being employed in Peer Support Specialist roles at various national platforms, and often also consulted by partners on matters pertaining to Peer Support Specialist employment, roles and provision of peer support services in Singapore. 

The impact from our teams members’ sharing of knowledge to build competencies to benefit the sector and support for the growth of the peer support movement and peer support specialist led services, is the reason we do what we do. 

Charting the Way Forward: Peer Support Specialist Roles, Remuneration & Supervision

With our emphasis and experience hiring Peer Support Specialists over the years, PSALT Care has already developed well-defined Peer Support Specialists roles, job descriptions and salary guidelines. These have been co-developed with input from our Peer Support Specialist team members and community partners involved in Peer Support Specialist work. We have bench-marked remuneration against NCSS annual sector salary guidelines for closest equivalent roles.

The Peer Support Specialist roles, job descriptions and salary guidelines PSALT Care has established years back are availed to community partners sincerely looking to adopt these in hiring of their own Peer Support Specialists, even as we continue to be a joint lead with the Community of Peer Support Specialists (CPSS) in advancing the establishment of national salary guidelines for Peer Support Specialists locally. 

Furthermore, we have developed our own Peer Support Specialist onboarding and supervision processes and frameworks – a first-of-its kind in collaboration with CPSS.

Concurrently, as the leading community-based organisation championing peer support and involved in first-hand employment of Peer Support Specialists in Peer Support Specialist roles, PSALT Care is committed to continue to chart the way forward, to facilitate and encourage national recognition of the Peer Support Specialist profession, role and salary guidelines, in tandem with CPSS and our national agency and community partners. For the latter, we envision a day when these will be competitive with remuneration for equivalent roles.  

Cutting Edge Innovations in Peer Support and Mental Health Recovery. Growing together!

PSALT Care is excited to be partnering the Community of Peer Support Specialists and Promises in pioneering a first-of-its-kind Rise to Wellness – Integrated Recovery Programme (RISE), co-funded by NCSS and The Majurity Trust. 

RISE focuses on 1-to-1 peer support for mental health recovery, alongside a co-developed Personalised Recovery Plan, impactful peer support groups, recovery interventions and engagement in volunteerism as a recovery milestone. It demonstrates the pivotal impact of peer support in service delivery. We are grateful to have the opportunity to partner NCSS research team in evaluating this cutting edge programme, which is showing early encouraging results. Our vision is for the innovative RISE model to be extended as a success approach to benefit many more peers in recovery in Singapore.

PSALT Care values growing together with our community partners and national agencies who have been committed to developing Peer Support Specialist work and supporting the Peer Support movement, along with us. From the National Council of Social Service/Social Service Institute which has run national Peer Support Specialist training and certification since 2016 (PSALT Care have gladly supported by receiving and supervising several batches of Peer Support Specialist interns for), to our enduring community partner, Community of Peer Support Specialists, who developed their own Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Peer Support Specialists (PSALT Care were honoured to be invited, along with NCSS and other community partners, to contribute our inputs to this).  We are truly stronger together!