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District Highlights 2020-21

1. Promoting Mental Wellness

  • The Tai Po and North District Social Welfare Office (District Social Welfare Office) set up the Focus Group on Promotion of Community Mental Health on 5 June 2020, with the participation of co-operative partners from different sectors in the district to promote mental wellness to the community. Through the physical activity of “A Journey of Self-Discovery - ‘ME Time’ Workshop” (ME Time 旅程工作坊) and the online “Cheer Talk Live Room” (Cheer 噏直播室), information about mental health and related services was shared and conveyed to local people, with the aim of enhancing their awareness to and knowledge on mental wellness. The focus group also set up an online information platform, namely “Mental Health Promotion Platform” (心靈自駕遊) to help local professionals, including social workers, doctors, nurses, etc. to obtain mental health-related information, mental health assessment tools and community resources, etc. So far, the Platform has attracted more than 1 600 views.
  • The District Social Welfare Office continued to run the project of “守護晴Teen@TPN” to convey the messages of life cherishment, caring the community and mental wellness in the community through regular publication of inspirational comic strips on different platforms, distribution of inspirational comic books and production of other promotional materials. Besides, the District Social Welfare Office and the Home Affairs Department (North District Office) have further beautified the Wu Tip Shan Trail by installing 12 more signage boards and 2 more painted murals with positive messages along the trail to give the hikers a positivity boost. Meanwhile, in order to identify youths with emotional distress and provide them with timely support at an early stage, a series of “gatekeeper training courses” have been conducted for social workers. The trained social workers will help train youth to become care ambassadors to provide care and support to their peers who face adversities. A total of 1 200 social workers and youths received the training

2. Promoting the “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign”

  • To echo the “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign”, the District Social Welfare Office continued to work closely with local stakeholders in launching various public education programmes to enhance public concern and understanding of dementia. In 2020-21, in collaboration with 2 DECCs in Tai Po and North District as well as Tai Po Dementia Care Link, a “Dementia Friendly Calendar” with information on relevant community support services was designed based on the need of elders with dementia and their carers. The calendars were distributed to elders with dementia and their carers through the 24 elderly service units in Tai Po and North District in December 2020. Moreover, in collaboration with 2 DECCs in Tai Po and North District, Tai Po Dementia Care Link, North District Dementia and Primary Health Care Network, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital and North District Hospital, the District Social Welfare Office produced 2 video clips to promote public awareness on the needs of persons with dementia and their carers. The production of the video clips was completed in mid-March 2021 and the video clips were uploaded on the online platform of Tai Po Dementia Care Link, North District Dementia and Primary Health Care Network and SWD’s webpage of “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign”, attracting over 1 000 views.

3. Strengthening Social Capital and Building Up a Caring Community

  • During the epidemic, disadvantaged families and groups are under great economic and emotional pressure. To show the community’s concern and support to them, the District Social Welfare Office launched a project titled “Joint Volunteer Effect - Material Donation Project” (義海融城大埔北 - 物資支援捐贈計劃) in September 2020 to distribute daily necessities donated by the business sector and benefactors in the district to the disadvantaged families and groups through different volunteer groups. As at March 2021, the District Social Welfare Office received various donated items, including face masks and other anti-epidemic supplies, data roaming prepaid SIM cards, supermarket cash coupons, pain relief patches, dry ration, multi-functional desks, folding fans and lamps, etc. from individuals/groups of 12 different sectors. Volunteer teams were mobilised to distribute the items to the underprivileged families and groups in the district. More than 2 700 households benefitted from the project.

4. Continous Enhancement of Community Support for Carers

  • With a view to relieving carers’ stress, the District Social Welfare Office has been running the “Community Carers Café”. In 2020-21, there were 8 service points in the district operating the Café, serving over 500 carers. Among the 121 newly registered members, 75% of them showed interest to serve as volunteers in the Café. Other than the service points, the Café has been operated online to help the carers release their stress through online activities during the epidemic. The “Online Café” has attracted more than 340 carers.
  • The District Social Welfare Office and the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) continued to join hands to organise the “Go Together - Children Speech Development Parent-child Project”. In 2020-21, instructors and students of the Department of Special Education and Counselling of EduHK provided 3 phases (10 sessions per phase) of individual parent- child speech training sessions to children suspected or diagnosed with speech problems and their carers. A total of 144 people from 72 families benefitted from the Project. To expand the scope of services under the Project, other related activities, including class observation days for referring social workers, speech therapists’ sharing, parents’ sharing on help- seeking experience, parenting seminars, creative drama workshops, talks on speech therapy, experience sharing sessions conducted by parents who have participated in previous phrases of the Project and small-group speech training sessions, etc. were arranged. In view of the success of the Project, the District Social Welfare Office will line up more co-operative partners to provide more information and support services for children with special learning needs and their carers in 2021-22.

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