Emergency system to help Hong Kong schools tackle rising student suicides extended until end of 2024
Hong Kong Free Press
A three-tier emergency mechanism for tackling student suicide risk amid a recent rise in cases in Hong Kong has been extended to the end of 2024, the government has announced.
A two-month cross-departmental collaboration that aimed to help Hong Kong schools identify students with higher suicidal risk and provide them with early support will continue until the end of this year, the government said on Monday.
The mechanism was rolled out in December, as the city saw an upward trend in youth suicides since the school year began in September. The Education Bureau (EDB) received 31 reports of suspected student suicides from schools in the first 11 months of 2023, the highest number in 10 years.
The government said at the time that the Covid-19 pandemic had caused an “unprecedented impact” on the mental health of Hongkongers, including students, who faced “greater adjustment challenges” after the full resumption of normalcy.
Three tiers
The first layer of the mechanism focused on assisting schools with early identification of students with mental health needs and providing timely and appropriate intervention. The second tier involved organising an off-campus support network – coordinated by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) – to help schools when they did not have sufficient manpower to cater to the students’ needs.
School principals may also refer students with severe mental health needs to public psychiatrists under the Hospital Authority (HA) as the last resort within the three-tier system. Those identified as urgent cases would be given priority.
“The third tier is the last line of defence, providing medical services to students with severe mental-health needs,” a government statement issued on Monday read.
As of mid-January, the HA had received a total of 50 cases referred by school principals to the psychiatric department, local media reported on Monday.
The EDB said it would offer more than 40 training courses and workshops for schools from the end of January to March to equip them with counselling techniques and intervention strategies. It would also collaborate with the SWD to arrange NGO visits to secondary schools between February and April, in the hope of raising mental health awareness among students and encouraging them to seek help.
“The government will continue to strengthen cross-departmental collaboration for more comprehensive efforts in promoting students’ mental health, with a view to helping schools and parents support students with mental-health needs, thereby building a stronger safety net for them,” the government said.
| 💡If you are in need of support, please call: The Samaritans 2896 0000 (24-hour, multilingual), Suicide Prevention Centre 2382 0000 or the government mental health hotline on 18111. The Hong Kong Society of Counselling and Psychology provides a WhatsApp hotline in English and Chinese: 6218 1084. See also: HKFP’s comprehensive guide to mental health services in Hong Kong. |
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