b'ANALYSIS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT AMONGST SPECIAL EDUCATION SETTINGS IN SINGAPOREAthira Bte Maswan, Joy Kang Yue, Lim Hui Mei, M Geethah, Nurul Nadia Yeo, Tan Zhi Hui Purpose of studyREACH (Response Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health for students) is amultidisciplinary community-based mental health team which promotes and supports mental health wellbeing for students attending both mainstream and Special Educational (SpED) schools under the Ministry of Education (MOE). This needs analysis study was conducted in collaboration with Temasek Polytechnic, School of Humanities and Social Science. The participating schools for this study are schools which serve individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder or a co-morbid of both.Literature has shown that individuals with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are at a higher risk ofdeveloping a mental health condition across their lifespan (Koskentausta, Livanainen & Almqvist,2007).Emerson and Hattons (2007) looked into the mental health of children and adolescents with learningdisabilities and found that these individuals are six times more likely to have a diagnosable psychiatricdisorder than their typical developing peers. The age at which individuals with special needs may develop a mental health condition is similar to that of the neurotypical population (Deb, Thomas, & Bright, C. (2001). Hence, it is of importance for staff working with these individuals to possess basic awareness and knowledge in mental health disorders and its common symptoms within the special needs population. This knowledge would help in the staffs management of behavioural and mood changes amongst the SEN students that are commonly linked to emerging mental health concerns. Although found to be at a higher risk of a psychiatric disorder, it is of concern that the number of REACH referrals from SpEd schools are considerably lower as compared to their mainstream counterparts.This qualitative study aims to look into systemic difficulties such as the referral process, the level of mental health literacy, and perceived self-competence of staff in their management of mental health concerns amongst SEN students within the MOE SpED schools in Singapore. The studyAs this study is the first of its kind conducted in Singapore, recruitment of participants was done viasending an invitation email to all the 19 MOE SpEd schools explaining the purpose of this study. A total of14 SpEd schools responded with interest to be part of the study. The schools who took part in this studyincluded those which catered to children with mild to severe intellectual impairments, autism and childrenwith multiple disabilities. Information was gathered through face-to-face interviews with the 33 participants who volunteered to be part of the study.The 33 participants comprised 20 Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and 13 SpEd teachers, across the14 MOE SpEd schools that consented to participation. The AHPs included psychologists, therapists andsocial workers. The AHP participants were asked questions relating to their job scope, their understanding of mental health amongst the SpEd population they served, mental health training they received, existing support for students with mental health conditions in the school and referral to REACH services. The SpEdteachers were asked questions relating to their awareness of mental health, the 2 mental health training they received, detection of emerging mental health issues amongst the population they served and existing support for students with mental health conditions in the school.7TH PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES 23STUDENT CONFERENCE 2021'