Want to volunteer? 
有意愿当志工吗?

Please carefully reflect if you are able to demonstrate the six core volunteer attributes before applying.

在申请之前，请仔细反思自己是否能够展现这六个核心志工特质。 

1. 责任心 — Sense of Responsibility

Responsibility means recognizing that the well-being of beneficiaries may depend on the volunteer’s actions. A responsible volunteer is reliable, follows guidelines, protects confidentiality, and performs tasks carefully and ethically.

责任心是指志工明白受助者的福祉可能与自己的行为息息相关。具有责任心的志工会认真履行承诺，遵守组织规范，保护受助者的隐私，并以谨慎与专业的态度完成任务。

Examples / 实践方式

• Being dependable and punctual
  准时可靠、守信用
• Following guidelines and protocols
  遵守组织规范与流程
• Protecting the dignity and safety of beneficiaries
  维护受助者的尊严与安全

2. 同理心 — Sense of Compassion

Compassion is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. A compassionate volunteer listens without judgment and responds with kindness, patience, and empathy.

同理心是理解他人感受并愿意关怀他人的能力。具备同理心的志工会耐心倾听，不批判、不否定，并以温暖和体贴的态度回应受助者。

Examples / 实践方式

• Listening attentively
  用心倾听
• Acknowledging others’ emotions
  理解并接纳他人的感受
• Showing kindness and respect
  以善意与尊重对待他人

3. 虚心 — Maintaining Humility at All Times

Humility reminds volunteers that their role is to serve rather than to seek recognition. Humble volunteers remain open to learning, accept feedback, and respect the perspectives of others.

虚心意味着志工以服务他人为本，而不是追求个人表现或赞扬。虚心的志工愿意学习、接受指导，并尊重不同的观点与经验。

Examples / 实践方式

• Being open to learning
  保持学习的心态
• Accepting feedback and guidance
  虚心接受建议与指导
• Respecting others’ perspectives
  尊重他人的想法与经验

4. 正心 — Volunteering for the Right Reasons and Right Intentions

Right intention means serving with sincerity and integrity. Volunteers act out of genuine care for others rather than seeking personal recognition, status, or reward.

正心指的是以真诚与正直的动机参与志愿服务。志工是出于关怀与助人的心，而不是为了名誉、地位或个人利益。

Examples / 实践方式

• Serving with sincerity
  以真诚的心服务
• Prioritizing beneficiaries’ needs
  以受助者的需要为优先
• Acting with integrity and honesty
  坚守诚信与正直

5. 心智 — Mental Discernment

(Knowing When to Seek Help)
(懂得何时寻求协助)

Mental discernment means recognizing the limits of one’s role and knowing when a situation requires professional support or guidance from supervisors.

心智是指志工能够清楚了解自己的角色与能力范围，并在情况超出能力时，懂得及时寻求督导或专业人士的协助。

Examples / 实践方式

• Recognizing personal limits
  了解自身能力的界限
• Consulting supervisors when needed
  需要时主动寻求督导意见
• Referring cases to professionals
  必要时转介给专业人员

6. 明智 — Making Clear, Rational Decisions in the Best Interest of Beneficiaries

Wisdom involves making thoughtful and balanced decisions. A wise volunteer considers consequences carefully and always prioritizes the safety, dignity, and well-being of beneficiaries.

明智是指在复杂情况中做出清晰、理性且周全的判断。明智的志工会仔细思考行动的影响，并始终以受助者的安全、尊严与福祉为优先。

Examples / 实践方式

• Thinking before acting
  行动前先思考
• Considering consequences carefully
  审慎评估可能的后果
• Acting in the best interest of beneficiaries
  以受助者的最佳利益为依归

When you are ready, fill up the form below

(Note: the list of opportunities are non-exhaustive and you may suggest one based on your skills. Guidelines for front-facing volunteers are also available at the page bottom. )

Disclaimer: Release of liability

By joining as a volunteer, you hereby indemnify and agree to keep The SAFE U Initiative, its management team, other volunteers and partnering organisations fully indemnified against all claims, loss or damage whatsoever in respect of death, injury, disability or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from any cause in 
connection with all programmes within the initiative.

Volunteer Guidelines

We screen your on-the-job performance to determine if you can react to situations in a safe, responsible and compassionate manner. These attributes are in line with our values.

We do not just screen you based on a few standard questions as we may receive exemplary replies but it does not guarantee that you can perform well in your role. Screening occurs continuously throughout training so that opportunities may be extended to individuals who may not have the necessary qualifications or experience but who have shown promise to develop further. Conversely, prior experience at other mental health organisations and/or a recognised qualification are desirable but may not be enough to progress to senior roles. At Safe U, your attitude and keenness to follow through our value-based actions matter the most. 

We do not tolerate destructive criticism. We also discourage prying behaviour.

We always offer opportunities for volunteers to provide constructive feedback. If you choose to be destructive and affect operations, we reserve the right to terminate your service

We also discourage meddlesome or prying behaviour because it distracts the volunteer from focusing on their work. It is not okay to repeatedly intrude into another volunteer's privacy or pose highly personal questions which are irrelevant to the welfare of your beneficiaries. 

Concentrate on doing a good job as someone's life depends on it.

An individual diagnosed with a mental disorder can suffer from oversensitivity to words, feelings and thoughts. You need to be able to help them without accidentally triggering overstimulation through thoughtlessness. A nonchalant gesture or careless remark can be the tipping point in an episode of suicidal crisis. Think before you speak, read more before you think.

If you expect to be spoonfed, think again. 

This is because rehearsed or scripted responses can be easily detected as insincere. If you tried a text service or a crisis hotline, you may be wondering why the person on the other side of the line is parroting every single thing you say. This is active listening done badly. We ask you to respond as you would a friend or family member. Worried you might make a mistake? We are always on hand to support you. We also encourage you to take up mental health workshops to build up your knowledge. This is the frontline and not meant to be a place for rote learning. We can help you with volunteer work but we cannot change your attitude towards learning. 

You learn the most by taking responsibility for seeking timely assistance and facing your fears. 

Our training model is heavily geared towards on-the-job training. We prefer you to learn while doing so that you will better understand your strengths and limitations. While we can give you a textbook size manual and ask you to memorise, seeking advice directly from our team allows you to internalise important bite-sized lessons in a highly efficient way. There is literally nothing we cannot help. We cannot help only when you don't have the courage to ask or fear the person you are helping. 

You may not be suitable for deployment if death-averting instructions are not followed.

Not all volunteers are suitable for deployment. Volunteers may lack the character attributes, sense of responsibility or even harbour certain misconceptions towards people with mental health problems. This is why it is absolutely necessary for us to screen volunteers before acceptance and during training. When instructed to, you must be able to muster the courage to call IMH or the police to avert a possible life-threatening event. 

Handling suicidal cases is a noble calling for the pure at heart

We do not recruit a large number of volunteers just to support our services. Instead, we are more inclined towards a smaller number of passionate and resonsible volunteers who are genuinely interested in the work. We understand that there will be volunteers who are looking to upgrade their CVs, clock SAC counselling hours or seek suport for Singapore (Permanent Residency) applications. If you belong to the above group of volunteers, please carefully consider if you can fully commit to the cause before applying because the work can be stressful. 

Important Points to Remember at All Times

We ask that you remember these pertinent points in your duty as a volunteer of The SAFE U Initiative:

1. Understand that there is always an element of risk. Dealing with mental health issues and/or suicide is challenging. Individuals may not be honest about their diagnoses and you may not always do or say the right things. These are considered human factors and do not necessarily reflect badly on you or diminish the value of the work we are doing at The SAFE U Initiative.

2. Always maintain a low threshold of suspicion because it is not easy to assess the person's acute suicide state. Maintaining a low threshold of suspicion is not the same as reporting someone to the police whenever you panic. It means always keeping a lookout for warning signs no matter how insignificant they may seem. For example, sudden behavioural changes from anger to calmness. Consult your supervisors if you are unsure, no one will berate you for trying to save a life. We discourage volunteers from guessing what the person's critical state for suicide is. Everyone's tolerability to adverse life events is different. When you resort to guesswork, you miss out on the subtle signals of distress that you are supposed to monitor.

3. It is your ethical responsibility to report harmful behaviour and seek help in a timely manner. When you feel that the person you are helping has safety concerns, do not wait it out and see if you can handle it yourself. You may not be able to assess the situation accurately. Suicide is notoriously known for having a very short suicide ideation to attempt time interval. Even if the person is not in immediate danger, reporting and seeking help is important in taking precautionary measures to avoid or minimise harm to self and others. This is about being ethical and having a sense of responsiblity. We cannot teach you how to be ethical or how to be more responsible. We can only support you to make the right decisions if you seek help immediately.

4. Please do not have a confrontational attitude when things do not go the way you expected. If you want people to take you seriously and help you, behaving in a self-righteous and unfriendly manner is the last thing you should do. What we do here is not meant to serve your needs but those of the whole community.

When a situation escalates, you are often directly responsible since the volunteer is the first point of contact. However, we do not adopt a blame culture. We simply ask you to reflect:

• Did you say something to exacerbate suicidal behaviour? 
• Did you forget to seek advice from us at the earliest warning sign of suicide? 
• Were you overconfident and skipped essential steps in our safety protocol? 

Problem-solving and troubleshooting in time can save lives. Being defensive does not. 

5. Lived experience is a valuable resouce that does not need self-entitlement. We are more than happy to provide volunteer opportunities to individuals who have lived experience as they can journey with our beneficiaries. However, a person's lived experience is often subjective and may not always be applicable to all beneficiaries.

As such, we cannot accept unsolicited requests from individuals with lived experienxe to deviate from established programme protocols. Such actions can be dangerous and unethical. We ask that all volunteers with lived experience to keep safety in mind and maintain humility and openness to life experiences beyond their own. Please refrain from constant or active interference with a beneficiary's life unless safety is compromised.

6. Please do not flaunt your previous experience at other mental health organisations. We are honoured to have volunteers with diverse experience and skills. However, previous experience may noy always be an advantage when it comes to selection of volunteers.

As we do not duplicate existing programmes in Singapore, we require all new volunteers to start from scratch and unlearn their previous way of doing things so that our beneficiaries can benefit the most from these new programmes.

7. Take the time to learn from the people you help. Volunteers often have the opportunity to learn from individuals in need. Vicarious resilience has been observed in which volunteers develop enhanced appreciation for one's advantages in life, increased compassion and empathy and re-ordering of personal goals and priorities. When you are helping others, you are also learning how to help yourself. Putting down one's ego and learning to be humble may be difficult for some but the rewards can be bountiful. 

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”

- Meister Eckhart

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