It may surprise many of you to think that heroes are not invincible as we do not expect to see vulnerabilities in these extraordinary individuals. The thought that heroes can be as ordinary as you and me may be hard for us to conceive.
SCDF’s emergency responders are often seen as heroes who are physically strong, resilient, and are always ready to jump into the thick of action to save lives and properties. However, these front-liners are humans with emotions and vulnerabilities. Every incident, no matter big or small, may at times take a psychological toll on our SCDF officers, which is why even heroes need may need help.
This is where SCDF’s Emergency Behavioural Sciences and Care unit (EBSC) comes in. Meet EBSC’s psychologist, Mr Cyrus Chng, who has been providing psychological support and counselling services to members of The Life Saving Force for over two years.
Psychologist, Mr Cyrus Chng has been providing therapeutic care to SCDF personnel in this cosy and serene counselling room for the past two years.
“I decided to join SCDF because it is a noble cause to help the men and women of the Force, be it the front-liners or the service support staff,” said Cyrus. “It is vital for them to be psychologically fit to perform their roles at their optimal state to fulfil the mission of SCDF.”
EBSC’s Psychological Support
The EBSC unit comprises a team of 18 professionals across three different branches – Care and Wellness Office which is based in the Civil Defence Academy (CDA), Resilience & Personnel Psychology Branch and the Operation Psychology Branch, based at HQ SCDF. The team consists of psychologists, research analysts as well as uniformed officers with various areas of expertise.
When asked to share how EBSC psychologists conduct their psychological intervention in SCDF, Cyrus explained, “Our psychological interventions may come in various forms - counselling, trainings, assessments, crisis response and other resilience-enhancing initiatives. More importantly, these interventions must be evidence-based to be implemented because we adopt a scientist-practitioner model approach to our services.”
One of the common forms of psychotherapy that EBSC psychologists use is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on correcting the individual’s erroneous thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that affects their feelings and behaviours. Such beliefs can pose a challenge in the way they interact with people because of the way they interpret things and the action of others.
“Depression and anxiety-related symptoms are examples of mental health issues that some front-liners may experience,” Cyrus added. “When a person is depressed, it affects the way they view themselves and the situations around them. To help them cope with negative thoughts, we usually use CBT. As for individuals with anxiety, we guide them to identify possible causes so that we can address the issue. We also teach them techniques to cope with anxiety such as deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. If we assessed that our clients require medical attention, we will recommend them to seek professional help from clinics elsewhere.”
Mr Cyrus Chng providing a counselling follow-up session with a client.
Supporting EBSC’s services are the appointed and trained paracounsellors at the fire stations. Paracounsellors serve as peer supporters to SCDF personnel stationed in their respective units. They also provide counselling and crisis response support to fellow front-liners.
“We work hand-in-hand with para-counsellors to gauge the morale of our officers on the ground. Paracounsellors are vital to us because they are also SCDF front-liners who can utilise their work experiences to counsel officers on the stress and demands associated with their vocation,” said Cyrus.
On Social Stigma of Help-Seeking
Cyrus recalled a particular time when he undertook one of his first few cases after he joined SCDF as a psychologist, “This client of mine was a young SCDF front-liner. During my first session with him, he asked if I could let him take home the counselling forms. He wanted to convince his family who does not believe in the existence of mental health issues, to seek their permission before he could proceed with the counselling. So, I allowed him to take pictures of the forms’ front cover and gave him my name card so he could reassure his family that his mental wellbeing was looked after by SCDF. To my relief, his family was agreeable for him to proceed with counselling. This case was memorable for me because it drives home the issue of social stigma towards mental health.”
“Stigma towards mental illness is real and there are still misconceptions in the society and in workplaces. We will need to continue to disseminate the right information to our personnel to correct these misperceptions,” said Ms Diong Siew Maan, EBSC’s Commander and Senior Principal Psychologist.
She adds, “Working as responders can be stressful and challenging. Therefore, it is important to have a supportive and caring workplace that help to buffer stress and help our personnel cope better. To achieve this, EBSC has been driving programmes to enhance supervisory and peer support in the organisation. We will be able to build a caring community to look out for our personnel during routine and major operations. At the same time, EBSC’s work has also been focusing on enhancing mental resilience in our responders. We believe that everyone can learn to be resilient by being more aware of their own stress and coping abilities; and harnessing on their individual strength. Research into responders’ resilience and coping has always been our key interest to bring in knowledge and unique experiences on how our personnel cope, the Singapore way.”
Besides face-to-face counselling, EBSC conducts virtual counselling, which was implemented since the outbreak of COVID-19. Officers can also call EBSC via the 24-hour helpline services for counselling-related matters.