About Us

The Society for the Severely Mentally Handicapped, Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan (SSMH) is a voluntary welfare organization established in 1984 and registered with the Registrar of Societies with the objective of providing rehabilitation facilities to children and youths with severe mental and physical (multiple) disabilities. Following this objective, a Day Care and Training Centre was set up in June 1985.

The Centre started with a small group of severely mentally disabled children and 4 staff. Today, the Centre has 10 Staff comprising an Administrator, a Physiotherapist, an Occupational Therapist, a Speech Therapist, 5 Teachers and a Housekeeper. It has an enrolment of 20 children in the Individual Education Program, and 9 teens and young adults in the Living Skills Group.

Over the years the Centre has expanded its programs from simple day care with some physical activities to the current program which aims to provide training to maximise the children’s functional skills including motor, cognitive, communication, social and self-help skills.

Working with the full-time staff are volunteers including paediatricians, college students, home makers and friends and families of SSMH – people who have contributed some of their time, resources and services to help towards the efficient running of the Centre.

Currently, rehabilitation services for the severely mentally disabled are being provided by both the Government and by private voluntary organizations. However, not many cater specifically to helping to train those with multiple disabilities. The Society is thus focused on efforts to meet the needs of this group of special children.

The Society requires about RM35,000 monthly to maintain and run the Training Centre. Funds come from donations received from the general public as well as some annual government grants from the Department of Social Welfare. Funds are also obtained through various fundraising events which are organized several times a year. The generous support of many caring Malaysians has indeed gone a long way towards helping us make life more meaningful for the children and their families. That support has also enabled us to refurbish our training centre to make it a lot more conducive to the training activities for the children.