Presentation Information
[SY-48-02]Healing Invisible Wounds: Clinical and Trauma-Informed Approaches to Childhood Trauma in Singapore
*Daniel Shuen Sheng Fung, Daniel Weng Siong Ho (Institute of Mental Health (Singapore))
Keywords:
Childhood trauma,Trauma-informed care,Culturally attuned interventions,Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Childhood trauma is increasingly recognised as a public mental health concern in urban Southeast Asia. In Singapore, the confluence of high developmental expectations, cultural reticence around emotional expression, and growing awareness of intergenerational trauma creates a distinctive landscape for post-traumatic stress presentations among children and adolescents.
This presentation outlines clinical and trauma-informed approaches adopted by the FRIENDS team (Forensic, Rehabilitation, Intervention, Evaluation, and Network Development Service) at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. FRIENDS is a multidisciplinary forensic child and adolescent mental health service that supports youth offenders, children at risk of offending, survivors of abuse, and families involved in complex custody disputes, among others.
Recent innovations include the introduction of Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) (Saxe et al., 2007), integrated with inpatient services to enhance caregiver engagement and multi-agency coordination. Adaptations have been made to suit Singapore’s multicultural and multireligious context. In parallel, the PRESENCE framework (Bloom, 2021), a trauma-responsive organisational approach, has been piloted to cultivate safety, emotional regulation, and relational trust not only in clinician-patient interactions but also within care teams and institutions.
These initiatives highlight the importance of culturally attuned, developmentally informed trauma care that accounts for collectivist values, interdependence, and systemic resilience. The presentation will also discuss the broader opportunities and systemic challenges in embedding trauma-informed principles across services, as aligned with Singapore’s National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy (MOH, 2023).
By centring the lived experiences of young people and their ecological environments, this presentation advocates for scalable, context-sensitive models of trauma intervention in contemporary Asia.
This presentation outlines clinical and trauma-informed approaches adopted by the FRIENDS team (Forensic, Rehabilitation, Intervention, Evaluation, and Network Development Service) at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. FRIENDS is a multidisciplinary forensic child and adolescent mental health service that supports youth offenders, children at risk of offending, survivors of abuse, and families involved in complex custody disputes, among others.
Recent innovations include the introduction of Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) (Saxe et al., 2007), integrated with inpatient services to enhance caregiver engagement and multi-agency coordination. Adaptations have been made to suit Singapore’s multicultural and multireligious context. In parallel, the PRESENCE framework (Bloom, 2021), a trauma-responsive organisational approach, has been piloted to cultivate safety, emotional regulation, and relational trust not only in clinician-patient interactions but also within care teams and institutions.
These initiatives highlight the importance of culturally attuned, developmentally informed trauma care that accounts for collectivist values, interdependence, and systemic resilience. The presentation will also discuss the broader opportunities and systemic challenges in embedding trauma-informed principles across services, as aligned with Singapore’s National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy (MOH, 2023).
By centring the lived experiences of young people and their ecological environments, this presentation advocates for scalable, context-sensitive models of trauma intervention in contemporary Asia.