By strengthening civil society, we care about the mental wellness of Hongkong’s youth and long to pursue the ideal development of Hong Kong.
1. We advocate for the mental well-being of youths in Hong Kong.
2. Through collaborating with the city’s stakeholders, ranging from policymakers to civil society, from academia to students and from the public sectors to the private ones, we campaign for policy and regulatory advancement.
3. We aspire to create a paradigm shift and a supportive system for the youth to co-create their ideal ways of living.
Picture this:
| One in three young Hongkongers suffers from stress, anxiety or depression, Hong Kong Playground Association survey shows.
| 51.5% of secondary school pupils now show symptoms of depression, and 25% demonstrate clinically-high levels of anxiety. Among university undergraduates, 69% currently show symptoms of depression, with 54% suffering from anxiety.
| Almost 2 million people, about a third of Hong Kong's adult population, experienced PTSD symptoms during this period, with another 590,000 suffering probable depression.
| Meanwhile, youngsters are disproportionately affected with reported symptoms of PTSD and depression with around half of people aged 24 or younger reported the symptoms respectively.
| The survey by HKU with nearly 11,500 interviewees through online surveys and phone calls between February and July this year showed that 66.7% of Hongkongers feel lost about the future.
Although there are several youth-targeting initiatives regarding mental wellbeing in the region, the advocacies about mental health policies and regulations of Hong Kong is insufficient. On the other hand, there is a lack of a collaborative platform and a research project specifically for Hongkong youth to re-imagine our urban development.
In light of that, in lieu of being service providers in the field of mental wellbeing, it is our belief to found a Hongkong-based student-led think-and-do tank aiming for a paradigm shift.
Our work includes:
1. Review on the current youth mental health policy landscape and provide recommendations;
2. Disseminate our findings to stakeholders, and
3. Provide a platform for the youth to co-create their ideal ways of living.
By inspiring Hong Kong youth to reflect on the current urban development and empowering them to contribute to the city's mental wellness through co-creation and innovation, we believe that all youngsters in the territories could achieve their sunny lives.
It is such an encouragement that THE WELLNESS HUB has accumulated more than 740 followers and achieved 26,800 Facebook post reaches within one sheer week since the launch. Meanwhile, many of you with similar ambitions have reached out to us to inquire about our future development and expressed interests in facilitating our incoming events.
In the coming year, we will categorise our research into two parts:
1. White Paper on Mental Health Policies and Regulations for Hong Kong Youth
2. The Hong Kong Blueprint for Youth Ideal Urban Development
We believe that the series of public education and promotion completed by “陪我講 ShallWeTalk” has generated significant momentum for us to directly engage with the Advisory Committee on Mental Health as students. Therefore, our target is to publish the first part of our research by the incoming November. Policymakers will consider the report as a basis for academia and public opinion when addressing the mental health needs of the youth.