Children suicide has become an alarming situation and the leading cause of death in Hong Kong. The suicide rate of those under 15 even reached a historical high of 1.7 (per 100k students) recently. Suicide is only the tip of iceberg reflecting a much bigger problem in mental well-being. Over 32% of students had self-harm behaviours with 13.7% had suicidal thoughts. Over 70% HK students showed depressive symptoms after the pandemic affecting well-being, attention, and learning outcomes.
While there is a shortage of mental health specialists (4.8 vs. 8.59 per 100,000 people), the traditional intervention focuses on cure on cases rather than prevention, ignoring the huge needs in equipping students with mental well-being skills.
Phoenix Foundation proposes the Well-being Ambassador Programme to train in-service arts teachers and social workers to engage them in teaching and nurturing well-being culture at schools through designing and implementing art-making activities based on behavioural health evidence. Ambassadors can facilitate students to expressing emotions, recognize strengths, discover insights, and accept themselves in classroom or extra-curricular activities.
