Support Family Mental Health under the Pandemic

Despite the persistent challenge from COVID-19, Family Mental Health Service continued to provide holistic services and support to the needy over the past year through programmes and groups both face-to-face and online to allow participants to de-stress. In 2021-2022, 12 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) groups were implemented in our 6 Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs), which helped participants’ identify stressors and learn positive thinking and problem solving skills. In spite of the unstable pandemic, our average attendance rate still exceeded 85%. In Mental Health Enhancement Programme (MHEP), a variety of groups and activities were held face-to-face and online to enhance mental health, e.g. drama therapy group, mindfulness group, decluttering talk and sand painting workshop. Our participants were satisfied with the programme arrangements and most of them reflected that the programme could help them manage stress and improve interpersonal relationship and social supporting network.

Guide Men to Release Stress and Cultivate Peaceful Body and Mind

In the face of the easing local pandemic in 2021, we resumed our mutual aid group and men’s yoga class, thanks to the active participation by men in the community. New topics such as Zentangle and free hand exercises were conducted to help relieve their stress during the pandemic in dynamic and artistic ways. Due to the rising number of infected cases in early 2022, the mutual aid group went online. Over the past year, we have organised four seminars; four life rebuilding classes, two therapeutic groups and three mutual aid groups, allowing male participants to maintain group cohesion and mutually support each other.

Care for Children Who Face Adversity and Help Them Handle Negative Emotions

With continuous funding support by BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited, we organised the “KIDS” Our Love Project. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the second project year began in October, 2021. The project aimed at subsidising kindergarten and primary school students from underprivileged families and those receiving casework services from the IFSCs. Students were eligible for one of the services: “Children's Dream Help” which provided cash subsidies to enable participants to enroll in non-academic interest classes to help them develop their potentials; or individual counselling service / therapeutic groups, which provided Child-centred Play Therapy counselling services or related therapeutic group services to children facing family adversities, such as death of family members, domestic violence or divorce of parents, with the help of professional assessment and recommendations by social workers to identify the children in need. The project received positive feedback since its launch. 120 play sessions were conducted for 12 cases and two 8-session therapeutic groups were held for 16 children in the second project year. Participating children and their families reflected that the project could effectively relieve children’s emotional and behavioural problems. “Children's Dream Help” also assisted 130 children to develop their potentials through joining interest classes.

Support Families in Crisis and Rebuild Family Functions

The Society has offered support to families in crisis in view of the rapid change within the society. Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation has been supporting the Society to operate “Family in Crisis Support Project” since 2017, which aims at providing one-stop comprehensive counselling and financial support to families that suffer loss or sickness of their breadwinners. In 2021-2022, the project helped 71 families through 82 financial grants for them to overcome difficulties. The project also organised a bereavement support seminar for 313 counsellors and published a casebook. Starting from May 2021, Yi Shan Charity Fund has also begun to provide short-term monthly support to families that faced unemployment or financial difficulties due to the pandemic, helping 304 people from 95 families through financial support during the year.

To support single parent families to overcome their crisis, the Society has initiated the Social Housing Scheme with landlord Foo Yet Kai Group and the Vegelink Charitable Foundation Limited, to provide accommodation solutions at a lower rent to single parent families with financial needs. With the support and assistance of IKEA and Project Space, the shared flats were refurnished to provide a better living environment to the needy families. The Scheme also encouraged mutual support and social integration between co-living single parent families as an embodiment of community care.

Advocate Harmonious Family Relationship and Reduce Family Violence

With the support from Social Welfare Department, we have launched the project “Peace Campus - Support Programme for Enhancing Peaceable Relationship” since October, 2018, providing supportive services for families to handle intimate partner violence and children witnessing domestic violence and at the same time promoting public awareness. During the year, we have provided intimate / dating partners classes and children classes to 43 and 50 participants respectively. Four family programmes, six community talks and 20 service promotions were also conducted. The project has effectively raised participants’ awareness and provided techniques in handling conflicts through non-violent ways and allowed children to learn how to handle emotions and family conflicts, so as to improve relationship and communication among their families.