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National Council of Social Service

Mr Gasper Tan

11 September 2026

Chief Executive Officer, New Hope Community Services Ltd

Gasper Tan, Former CEO of Samaritans of Singapore Limited (SOS), has transformed suicide prevention, crisis intervention and postvention support in Singapore through visionary, courageous and people-centered leadership.

Recognising changing youth help-seeking behaviours, Gasper spearheaded CareText, taking it from concept to pilot in 2020 and full 24-hour operations by 2022. Today, it is SOS’s primary platform for nearly 80% of youths seeking support, recording over 19,000 chats in 2025, with 38% of users disclosing suicidal ideation.

He also launched the Be A Samaritan (BAS) programme in 2022, shifting SOS’s focus from reactive crisis intervention towards a whole-of-community prevention approach. More than 6,000 individuals have been trained, with over 90% reporting improved knowledge and practical suicide-prevention skills. His leadership further enabled the development of NEST, a youth crisis facility in collaboration with National Mental Health Office, MOH,  expanding SOS’s continuum of care beyond remote crisis support.

During his term as CEO, Gasper championed digital transformation, moving SOS towards a secure cloud-based infrastructure and leading the development of AI-enabled support for CareText. The technology strengthens triage, risk identification, quality assurance and volunteer support while maintaining human oversight, confidentiality and ethical safeguards.

His leadership places volunteers at the heart of SOS’s mission, strengthening training, supervision, surge capacity and service sustainability. He has also built strong partnerships across government, healthcare, education and community organisations.

Beyond SOS, Gasper contributes to national mental health and suicide prevention efforts through multiple inter-agency committees and taskforces, including platforms under MOH, NCSS and MSF. He is currently serving as a board member of Limitless, a youth mental health agency. Through policy contributions, sector collaboration and innovation, he continues to strengthen Singapore’s mental health ecosystem and ensure that people in crisis have someone to turn to.