Singapore’s Mental Health Peer Movement

Transcult Psychiatry. 2026 Jan 6:13634615251409682. doi: 10.1177/13634615251409682. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Singapore’s mental health peer movement is a social movement that encourages persons with psychiatric histories to use their lived experience for the benefit of others. This is a rare state-led intervention designed to empower persons in recovery to advocate for themselves and exercise agency. However, in the context of a depoliticized society such as Singapore, the inherently political nature of this work-to articulate a shared identity, build community and awareness, and press for destigmatization and other forms of support-has become obscured, thereby muting the potential of the peer movement. This article discusses life-writing narratives as an opportunity to advance the re-politicization of mental health stories. I argue from an insider’s perspective that life-writing provides an opportunity within Singapore’s mental health landscape for a diverse range of stories to be told that may complicate dominant narratives in mental health.

PMID:41493987 | DOI:10.1177/13634615251409682