District Highlights 2021-22

1. Caring for the Youth and Promoting Mental Wellness

The Tai Po and North District Social Welfare Office (District Social Welfare Office) continued to implement the “守護晴Teen@TPN” project to spread the messages of cherishing life, caring for the community and improving mental well-being through regularly publishing inspirational comic strips on electronic platforms and distribution of inspirational comic books and other promotional materials. In addition, the District Social Welfare Office further beautified the Wu Tip Shan Trail by installing more signage boards printed with positive messages along the trail to give hikers a positivity boost. Virtual run activities were also held to promote the trail. To timely identify and support young people experiencing emotional distress, the District Social Welfare Office organised a series of gatekeeper training courses for social workers. Trained social workers in turn helped train up youths as care ambassadors, who were capable of supporting their peers in the face of adversities. A total of 2 000 social workers and young people received the training. Morover, the District Social Welfare Office enhanced the “Mental Health Promotion Platform” to ensure that the public can make use of community resources in a more efficient and effective manner. The online platform has attracted more than 2 400 visits so far.

2. Promoting the “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign”

To support the “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign”, the District Social Welfare Office launched the “2021-22 Dementia-Friendly School Promotion Project” through the Tai Po and North District Dementia Friendly Community Working Group, which was formed in collaboration with two DECCs in the district, Tai Po Dementia Care Link and North District Dementia and Primary Health Care Network. Through a series of educational seminars and activities organised for primary schools in the district, the project enhanced students and teachers’ understanding and awareness of the needs of persons with dementia, helping to build a dementia-friendly community. Over 600 students and teachers participated in the project. In addition, the working group produced and published an illustration booklet titled When My Mother Suffers from Dementia. By sharing the story of a carer whose family member was diagnosed with dementia, the booklet raised public concern for the needs of elders with dementia and their carers, and provided information on local resources available for families of dementia patients. Over 9 000 copies of the booklet were distributed to various welfare service units, schools, housing estate offices, property management companies, owners’ corporations and residents’ organisations in the district, while its electronic version was uploaded to the SWD webpage for the “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign” for public access.

3. Strengthening Social Capital and Building a Caring Community

To encourage local organisations to show their support for underprivileged groups, the District Social Welfare Office organised a project called “Happy Seed Express 2021-22”. With the sponsorship of Lions Club of Tai Po and Lions Club of Hong Kong North, families with children living in sub-divided flats were given free organic fruit and vegetables purchased from the HKFYG Organic Farm in order to relieve some of their financial burden and help them achieve a healthier diet. Volunteer drivers drove the families to the organic farm and did farm work with them as volunteers, giving them a fresh and unforgettable experience. Grateful for the support of local organisations, all 17 families benefitted from the project gave positive feedback.
The pandemic and economic downturn has caused underprivileged families and groups great financial and emotional stress. To build a caring community, the District Social Welfare Office implemented the “Joint Volunteer Effect – Material Donation Project” to gather items donated by individuals or organisations of various sectors, and mobilise volunteers to distribute the donated items, including anti-epidemic supplies, processed food and daily necessities to elderly persons and underprivileged groups living in squatters and sub-divided flats in the district. As at March 2022, the project benefitted more than 3 600 households.

4. Continously Enhanceing Community Support for Carers

The District Social Welfare Office continued to implement the Care the Carer campaign in collaboration with stakeholders in the district to provide carers with additional support. In 2021-22, the Community Carers Cafés were set up in seven locations, including Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Services Centres and service points of NGOs, serving over 680 carers in the district. In addition to offering a series of leisure activities such as sharing sessions and DIY workshops, the cafés also provided elderly and child respite services for carers to take a break from their duties. Carers were encouraged to serve as volunteers in the cafés with a view to strengthening the neighbourhood support network. During the pandemic, an Online Café was set up to provide carers with information and support services through live-streaming. The Online Café served more than 34 000 carers. Moreover, six Carer Hygge Home programmes were organised to provide various experiential activities for 180 carers of elders, children with special learning needs, underprivileged families and new-arrival families. To further publicise support services for carers in the community, 18 promotional activities were held in the district in 2021-22, reaching 2 000 people.
The District Social Welfare Office and the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) continued to co-organise the “Walking Together – Children Development Parent-child Project”. In 2021-22, instructors and students from the Department of Special Education and Counselling of EduHK conducted two rounds of parent-child speech training courses (10 sessions per round with a class observation day for referring social workers) for children suspected of having or diagnosed with speech problems and their carers. A total of 42 people from 15 families took part in the project. Speech therapists from the Integrated Centre for Wellbeing of EdUHK held two rounds of developmental groups titled “Chatting over Books: Understanding the Hidden Rules of Social Interactions” (10 sessions per round) for junior primary students with autistic spectrum disorder attending mainstream schools to enhance their social skills and self-confidence. 16 students participated in the groups. To expand the scope of services under the project, the District Social Welfare Office lined up three NGOs in the district to organise a series of services and activities, including setting up service counters to familiarise children with special learning needs and their carers with available community services and resources. There was also a thematic talk on speech therapy given by the Tai Po Lions Club, and another on parenting skills given by clinical psychologists. In view of the success of the project, the District Social Welfare Office will continue to co-operate with local stakeholders to render more diversified support services and provide related information for children with special learning needs and their carers in 2022-23.

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