Psychological Well-being and Assistance

The stress associated with the economic ups and downs have impacts on our psychological as well as physical health. Common syndromes include sleep disturbances, mood problems (such as depression), anxiety disorders, impulse control problems (such as over-eating, excessive gambling, spending, stealing, drug and alcohol abuse, occasionally aggressive behaviour and use of violence etc.), psychosomatic syndromes (such as dyspepsia/indigestion, tension headaches and general fatigue), respiratory tract disorders, heart problems, fatigue, stomach problems, etc., as well as relationship problems (such as conflicts at home or at work).

The Hospital Authority produces comprehensive on-line information on various types of mental illness, self-care tips, community resources and patients' sharing, with a view to empowering patients and carers, through Mental Health Information Platform（精神健康資訊平台）of the Smart Patient Website.

If you need professional counseling, you may seek help from the following organisation:

• Family Crisis Support Centre (Chinese version only), operated by Caritas – Hong Kong, provides a package of integrated and easily accessible services to assist individuals or families in crisis or distress.  Services include 24-hour hotline (18288), short-term accommodation, crisis intervention, counseling / casework service,  support groups / programmes and other referral services.
• Clinical Psychological Service of the Social Welfare Department offers psychological assessments and individual or group psychological treatment to all residents of Hong Kong. People who seek such assessment or treatment should visit the IFSCs of SWD wherein they will be screened and referred by the social workers on duty.
• Department of Health provides a comprehensive range of health promotion and disease prevention services for children from birth to 5 years and women at or below 64 years of age. These services are provided by a dedicated team of medical & nursing professionals and supporting staff, through a network of 31 Maternal and Child Health Centres and three Woman Health Centres. The FHS also provides a range of health information resources covering physical and psychosocial aspects of child health for parents as well as woman health. The information can be accessed at its website.
• Suicide Prevention Service: Suicide is a complex social problem. General risk factors may involve personality traits, isolation associated with lack of family or social support, mental disorders, emotional state of hopelessness associated with unhappy experience or unfulfilled psychological needs, etc. Various kinds of welfare services to support the functioning of individuals and their families are contributing to the prevention of suicide. The Suicide Crisis Intervention Centre of The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong provides round-the-clock crisis intervention and emergency emotional support to those who are at risk of committing suicide. Besides, the Centre provides outreaching service, continual intensive counseling service and volunteer training group service for survivors. The following hotline services operated by three Non-governmental Organisations are dedicated to suicide prevention-