Go Green for World Mental Health Awareness Month

The STC Wellbeing Strategic Group recently joined with ‘OCD and Anxiety Support HK’ (OCDAHK), a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting individuals and their families affected by mental health conditions, to prioritise raising awareness of mental health in our community. We chose Wednesday October 23 to sell green ribbons which symbolised hope, strength, balance and endurance for sufferers.  Wearing green ribbons was intended to reassure sufferers that they are not alone and that we believe they should be treated with the same respect, understanding and care as those with physical illness.

Sadly, there is an increasing incidence of mental health disorders among adolescents in Hong Kong, the most common being anxiety and depression.  Teenagers feel stress for many reasons, including pressure to achieve at school, as a consequence of the increased time they spend online and because of the strains on family time arising from parents being compelled to accommodate the very high cost of living in this city.  Teenagers are also dealing with major physical and emotional changes, beginning with puberty, that require support, care, active listening and a non-judgmental attitude.

A group of very generous Year 13 students sold ribbons and advocated for them to be worn by younger students and staff.  Thanks go to Victoria Drave, Jess Yung, Chloe Tung, Yash Saksena and Felix Kwok for their leadership and generosity.

They helped us raise $2,000 which we will donate to OCDAHK in support of sufferers of mental health who cannot access or afford treatment and to youth programmes.

Wellbeing is at the core of what we do at our school.  We are very fortunate, therefore, to have an extremely professional, experienced counselling team and two social workers, working in unison with teachers, to assist students, and parents, at any time.