Mental Health and our community

According to World Health Organization (WHO), 1 out of 10 people in the world is diagnosed with mental illness, and in China, the rate is 1 out of 13. In other words, 100 million of people in China have lived experience of mental illness. In Taiwan, 1 in 4 people is living with common mental disorders.

Uneven Distribution of Psychological Well-Being Professions around the World

World Health Organization (WHO) points out that the main challenges of providing psychological therapies and services in low-and-middle-income countries include a lack of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists and social workers.
In low-income countries, there is only 1 psychiatrist in every 2 million people and 1 psychiatric nurse in every 240,000 people.
In contrast, high-income countries have 170 times more psychiatrists and 70 times more psychiatric nurses than that in low-and-middle-income countries.

Situation in Hong Kong

The Hospital Authority (HA) of Hong Kong mentioned in the Hospital Authority Mental Health Service Plan for Adults 2010-2015 that, according to current global data, there is approximately 1 - 1.7 million of Hong Kong people affected by mental health problems. 70,000 - 200,000 of them are living with severe mental illnesses. In 2013-2014, around 205,000 people living with mental illness of different severities received psychiatric specialist services provided by the Hospital Authority, which is a 24% rise comparing to the numbers in 2009-2010.
In a recent mental health survey carried out in Hong Kong (Lam et al., 2015), the 1-week prevalence rate of common mental disorders* is 13.3% among 5971 respondents (aged 18 to 75). Yet, only 26% of them seek help from psychiatric specialist services in the previous year.
*Common mental disorders include major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, other anxiety disorders and mixed depressive and anxiety disorder.

Mental Health services in Hong Kong

Mental health related professions
Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are the two main psychiatric or mental health related professions In Hong Kong.

Psychiatrist

A Bachelor degree in Medicine, trainings in psychiatric specialist services and professional qualification are required to become a psychiatrist in Hong Kong.

Clinical
Psychologist

According to Hong Kong Psychology Association (HKPA), to become a qualified clinical psychologist in Hong Kong, one must attain a Bachelor Degree in Psychology (or equivalent), a Master or Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology and have sufficient numbers of hours of supervised clinical placement.

Psychiatric Specialist Services in Hong Kong

Psychiatric specialist services in Hong Kong include psychiatric specialist services provided by the Hospital Authority and clinical psychological services from the Social Welfare Department (SWD).

Psychiatric Specialist Services from HKHA

There are mainly three kinds of psychiatric specialist services under the Hong Kong Hospital Authority:

From the statistics in 2008,

89%

of patients reach out to the specialist out-patient clinics and the utilization rate of specialist out-patient clinics is the highest among the three services.

Clinical Psychological Services from the Social Welfare Department

There are five clinical psychology units under the Social Welfare Department and they are located in different districts of Hong Kong. The services they provide include psychological assessment, intelligence assessments as well as different psychotherapies. When necessary, they will refer clients to other services such as psychiatric medical treatments and residential placements.
Apart from the above-mentioned services, the Hospital Authority and the Social Welfare Department also provide outreach services and run the Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness respectively. Besides, there are also quite a number of Non-Government Organizations that provide community services to people.

Overview of Psychiatric Specialist Services in Hong Kong

Are there sufficient mental health services for people who are in need in Hong Kong? Let us take a look on the numbers and ratios of mental-health related professions in Hong Kong’s and America’s population.

Number of mental-health related professions (per 100,000 people):

United States

Clinical psychologist:
28.88
Psychiatrist:
7.79

Hong Kong

Clinical psychologist:
6.04
Psychiatrist:
4.80

Compared to the United States, the number of clinical psychologist and psychiatrist are relatively low.
Considering this ratio, every clinical psychologist in Hong Kong has to be responsible for the mental health of 17,000 Hong Kong citizens. Compared to the United States (about 1:3500), the ratio in Hong Kong is clearly much lower . The lack of human resources leads to longer waiting time for mental health services.

Source: World Health Organization

Waiting time
(Psychiatric specialist)

Clusters

	HK East	HK West	KLN Central	KLN East	KLN West	NT East	NT West
Intake, Urgent	1 Week	1 Week	1 Week	1 Week	Less than 1 week	1 Week	1 Week
Intake, Semi-stable	3 Week	4 Week	4 Week	3 Week	3 Week	4 Week	3 Week
Intake, Stable	33 Week	91 Week	57 Week	105 Week	75 Week	100 Week	67 Week

The above numbers are for reference only; please refer to Hospital Authority website for the latest waiting time and any other related information.

If the waiting time in my cluster is long, can I go to other clusters?

In order to streamline with other community support services in the district, psychiatric specialist services do not support inter-cluster service.

Community resources

Source: Social Welfare Department
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_rehab/sub_listofserv/id_serexmental/

Residential Service

Supported hostel
─

Provides group home living for people in recovery with disabilities who can only live semi-independently with a fair amount of assistance from hostel staff in daily activities.

Halfway house
─

Provides a transitional period of residential care to facilitate people in recovery to improve their ability of living independently for community reintegration.

Long stay care house
─

Provides residential care for people in recovery who are in a stable state yet still in need of nursing care.

Day Training or Vocational Rehabilitation Service

Including but not limited to the following:

Shelter workshop
─

Provide appropriate vocational training under specially designed environment to people in recovery who cannot proceed to open employment due to inabilities, the workshop helps develop their social and economic potentials to the fullest and enhance their working ability.

Supported employment
─

Provide employment support to people in recovery to facilitate employments in open settings.

Integrated Vocational Rehabilitation Services Centre
─

Provide people in recovery with one-stop, integrated and seamless vocational rehabilitation services including work training under specially designed environment to facilitate them to develop social and economic potential which prepare them for future employment

Work Extension Program (WEP)
─

Provide services for trainees of shelter workshop or integrated vocational rehabilitation services center who aged 40 or above and could not continue working due to old age or deterioration in work abilities. The services include work activities for sustaining residual work abilities, social and developmental programs and caring activities for meeting the health and physical needs of trainees.

Community Support Service

Source: Social Welfare Department
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_rehab/sub_listofserv/id_serexmental/

Parents/ relatives resource center
─

Provide caregivers of people in recovery with a platform for communication and mutual help

Self-help organizations of people with disabilities/ chronic illness
─

Aim at improving community welfare and rights and allowing members to support one another who have similar struggles through caring, sharing experiences and communication

Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW)

The ICCMW provides one-stop, district-based, and accessible community support and social rehabilitation services, ranging from early prevention to risk management, for people in recovery, people with suspected mental health problems, their families / caregivers and residents living in that district.

Scope of services

Drop-in services
Outreaching services
Casework counseling
Therapeutic and supportive group work services
Networking services, including social and recreational activities

Day training
Outreaching occupational therapy training services
Public education programs to promote mental health
Referral to the Community Psychiatric Service of the Hospital Authority for clinical assessment or psychiatric treatment

*people in need can choose from the available ICCMW services according to the district they live in.

Target group

The target groups of ICCMW are people living in the district, including:

People in recovery aged 15 or above
People with suspected mental health problems aged 15 or above

Family members/ caregivers of the above mentioned people
Residents who would like to know more about/ improve mental health

List of ICCMW and Corresponding Contact Information:

Central, Western and Southern District

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals
2814 2837
Fu Hong Society
2518 3880

Islands District

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
2363 5718

Eastern District

Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service
2967 0902
Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong
2505 4287

Wan Chai

Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service
3413 1641

Wong Tai Sin

Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong
2322 3794

Kwun Tong

The Mental Health Association of Hong Kong
2346 3798/ 2116 0503

Tsuen Kwan O (South)

Christian Family Service Centre
3521 1611

Sai Kung and Tseung Kwan O (North)

Stewards Limited
2633 3117

Kowloon City

The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong
2332 5332

Yau Tsim Mong

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
2977 8900

Sham Shui Po

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
2319 2103

Tsuen Wan

Caritas Hong Kong
3105 5337

Kwai Tsing

Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service
2434 4569

Kwai Chung

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
3552 5420

Sha Tin

Stewards Limited
2645 1263
New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
3552 5460

Tai Po

The Mental Health Association of Hong Kong
2651 8132

Northern District

Caritas Hong Kong
2278 1016

Yuen Long

The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong
3163 2873
New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
2451 4369

Tuen Mun

New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
2450 2172/ 2450 2172
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council
2465 3210

Hotlines

If you find yourself or people around you experiencing mental distress or emotional disturbance, including work effectiveness, interpersonal relationship, physical health, self-care ability, please seek professional assessment and services as soon as possible to prevent worsening of conditions.
Please take a look on the following information.

Social Welfare Department – Departmental hotline service

Service Hour:

24-hour

Tel. No.:

2343 2255

Introduction of Related Services

Provide counseling, support and advice and arrange appropriate follow-up services for people in need. Besides, people who have not received any services from the Social Welfare Department previously can apply for clinical psychological services through this hotline. The clinical psychological services mainly target people with emotional, cognitive or behavioral disturbance. During the services, clinical psychologist will conduct a systematic and objective psychological assessment pinpointing the problems of service users. After analysis of the assessment, a treatment plan will be formulated according to the nature of problems. The clinical psychological service is free of charge.

24 hour Hospital Authority Psychiatric Hotline

Service Hour:

24-hour

Tel. No.:

2466 7350

Introduction of Related Services

The Mental Health Association of Hong Kong - free mental health counseling and information hotline

Service Hour:

24-hour

Tel. No.:

2772 0047

Introduction of Related Services

Provide tests on psychological well-being, methods to enhance mental health, information on common psychological issues and common mental illnesses, ways to seek help for mental problems, strategies to help people with mental problem, self-help methods, and mental health counselling services from professional social workers or clinical psychologists.

The Samaritan Befrienders oh Hong Kong – 24-hour hotline

Service Hour:

24-hour

Tel. No.:

2389 2222

Introduction of Related Services

The 24-hour hotline is provided by a group of passionate volunteers. They provide 24-hour instant emotional support service to those who are distressed, hopeless or who have suicidal intention. They are willing to listen, care, and accompany help seekers to face their problems and regaining their courage and confidence to live their lives.

*Information mentioned above is for reference only. This project has no conflict of interest with the above-mentioned organizations and qualities of the above services are not guaranteed. For more details, please contact the above organizations directly.