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Centre offering one-stop support for victims of online harm, especially girls and women, to open Jan 19

SINGAPORE — For a year in secondary school she was cyberbullied almost every day, which led to her having suicidal thoughts and even harming herself.

Centre offering one-stop support for victims of online harm, especially girls and women, to open Jan 19
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  • A new centre targeted at victims of online harm will be launched on Jan 19
  • It has a hotline for victims to call or text, with counsellors assessing the situation before referring them for further help if necessary
  • It’s the first of its kind in Singapore, even though there have been other general cyberwellness hotlines

SINGAPORE — For a year in secondary school she was cyberbullied almost every day, which led to her having suicidal thoughts and even harming herself.

Now aged 20, the tertiary student who wanted to be known as Sarah (not her real name) said that she was harassed over the app Snapchat.

She was constantly spammed with insults on her appearance and weight, with the bullies even telling her to die. 

For the first three months, before her mother approached her after realising that something was wrong, she kept the situation to herself.

She did not know what to do, was irritated easily and overslept frequently.

“I had to go for counselling at NUH (National University Hospital) for three months. Cyberbullying victims need a lot of help. I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through because it was really traumatic for me,” she said.

I had to go to counselling at NUH for three months. Cyberbullying victims need a lot of help. I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through because it was really traumatic for me.
"Sarah", now aged 20, talking about the mental trauma she suffered as a result of cyberbullying

To aid victims of online harms like her, SG Her Empowerment (SHE), a non-profit organisation for women, in collaboration with the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) will open a new one-stop support centre on Jan 19.

Called SheCares@SCWO, it is Singapore’s first one-stop support centre for victims and survivors of online harm, such as cyberbullying and doxxing, with a particular focus on girls and women who face gender-based online harm.

Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann spoke of the extent of the problem at the signing of various memoranda of agreements between SHE and its partners on Wednesday (Jan 11).

“Three in 10 experienced gender-based online harms. This is a significant number. Even more concerning is the fact that 61 per cent of the female respondents to this poll shared having low or no awareness of how to seek help for online harms,” she said.

Ms Sim was citing an online poll conducted in January 2022 by The Sunlight Alliance for Action, which was launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information to deal with online harm.

Compared to the women, 52.2 per cent of male respondents were not aware of avenues to seek help for online harms. In addition, 27 per cent of women reported feeling targeted by gender-based online harms, as compared to 18 per cent of their male counterparts.

“There are many gaps in our community (women) that need to be addressed,” Ms Stefanie Yuen Thio, board chair of SHE, said at the event.

“In another centre (to help women) you probably have (counsellors dealing with) a lot of different types of harms, here we are very specifically trained and targeted towards this…we hope to bring a more specialised, more targeted approach,” she added.

While it is focused on girls and women who face gender-based harms like sexual harassment, stalking and non-consensual intimate image sharing, it is open to all victims of online harm like cyberbullying and harassment.

HOW THE CENTRE WILL WORK

The centre has a helpline and textline for victims to speak to SCWO’s counsellors.

The victims can then be referred to a counselling session, an appointment with one of the 48 volunteer lawyers from one of its partners, Pro Bono SG, or to the police.

For select severe cases during the pilot, police officers will go down to the centre so that the victim will not have to repeat his or her testimony and relive the trauma twice.

When asked on the duration of the pilot, SHE said that it will continue liaising with the police to see when and how to progress the pilot.

“We will ramp up our services based on demand, so we will closely monitor demand. We want everyone who needs help to receive it,” said CEO of SHE Simran Toor.

The centre, located at 96 Waterloo Street, has these operating hours:

  • The hotline and textline are open from Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm
  • Counselling services (by appointment only) are available from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm
  • The legal clinic (by appointment only) is open on every 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesday of the month, 7pm to 9pm

This launch follows the Online Safety Bill that was passed in Parliament last September to protect Singaporeans from harmful content online.

There are several other hotlines already available for general cyberwellness, like those from the Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth, Touch Cyber Wellness and Help123, but this is the first dedicated cyberharm centre aimed at gender-based online harm, with its counsellors being trained in it.

For Sarah, the cyberbullying victim, she stopped harming herself after her mother intervened. She said that she has regained her confidence since.

“I didn’t know about such hotlines back then… at least I would know now where to go find help,” she said.

“I think any sort of support, whether professional or not, is helpful. At this age now, I would consider calling the helpline if I am cyberbullied.”

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