簡介
Listen to #Hashtag Hong Kong every Sunday morning at 8.15
Focussing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
(Sundays 8.15am - 8.25am)
最新
Chris Leung, Social Worker, The Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society
Hi everyone, I am Chris, the Deputy Centre-in-Charge of the Sham Shui PO Community Living Room of the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon.
According to the "Long-Term Housing Strategy - Annual Progress Report 2022," the government has secured sufficient land to build public housing units, fulfilling the supply targets for the next ten years. However, as the allocation of land for housing is not evenly distributed annually, only about one-third of these units will be completed in the first five-year period.
Hong Kong nowadays is facing a housing shortage, and many citizens would choose to live in subdivided flats. According to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department in 2021, there are approximately 108,200 subdivided units for rent in Hong Kong, with an average of 3-4 partitioned rooms per unit. The median living space per person is only 56.5 sq. ft., lower than the 75 sq. ft. standard for public housing and the 161.5 sq. ft. for the average household in Hong Kong.
Apart from limited living spaces, subdivided units are also facing several problems like heavy water and electricity charges, safety issues, etc. The poor living environment has poses impacts on residents’ physical and mental health that most of them have to bear heavy financial burden and parenting.
In view of that, the Social Welfare Department (the "SWD") launched the "Community Living Room Pilot Scheme" funded by the Community Care Fund. The Sham Shui Po Community Living Room Project locates in Fuk Wa Street, Sham Shui Po, in where subdivided housing is concentrated. The Project focuses on supporting subdivided unit households, especially those with children, in order to alleviate the difficulties they face while waiting for public housing and living in poor conditions, and provide critical support during the transition period.
As a Government, Business, and Community tripartite collaboration project, the government has appointed THE LOK SIN TONG BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, KOWLOON, as the approved service organization to operate the Project, providing shared living spaces including pantry, dining room, living room, study and activity room, children's play facilities, fitness facilities, and self-service laundry facilities, as well as providing community information, health talks, After-school Learning and Support Programmes, community support and referral services. The Sham Shui Po Community Living Room has commenced operation since December 2023. It will operate for a period of three years. With the support of various sectors, the Project has already recruited over 500 families to provide them with services.
In this cross-sectoral collaboration project, not only could the users enjoy additional living space, but they could also broaden their social networks, thereby improving their quality of life and increasing their sense of community belonging. The after-school study support, provided by the Community Living Room, is aimed at alleviating pressure on parents to supervise their children’s homework. The project not only relieves the onus on parents as caretakers; it also lightens their housekeeping workload. Living in a relatively small and crowded flat, most of the users do not have space at home for a washing machine and need to wash clothes by hand. Now, however, they are able to make use of laundry services in the Community Living Room, which are available at an affordable price. User can build up their social network in the Community Living Room as well.
We will continue to actively expand the scope of services, and strive to help the sub-divided unit households in the Sham Shui Po district to improve their living space, sense of community belonging, and social networks after using the community living room facilities. In the long run, to elevate the living standards and enhance community belonging of grassroots citizens, we believe that with the participation of the business sector in setting up more Community Living Rooms in districts clustered with subdivided unit households, more grassroots families will benefit.
Three community living room projects in To Kwa Wan, Hung Hom and Nam Cheong are expected to commence operations gradually to provide support for subdivided unit households, particularly those with children. These four community living rooms are expected to serve 1,750 subdivided households, encompassing a population of around 270,000 individuals each year, to provide a better living standards for the residents.
And now I have a song I'd like to dedicate to all of you listening. My song is: "陪著你走” by Rubber Band
重溫
Elvis Ng, Regional Manager, Heep Hong Society
Hi I am Elvis Ng from Heep Hong Society.
Hong Kong parents face different pressures every day, especially those with preschool children. Often, stress arises from the personal expectation on children’s performance, parent-child communication, and children’s conduct. A survey conducted by Heep Hong Society " Social Work Service for Pre-Primary Institutions " from February to March 2022 on "Parental Stress and Resilience of Children" found that among 502 parents with preschool children, over half of them exhibited symptoms of depression. More than 40% of families with Special Educational Needs children were assessed as unhealthy, with resilience at a risk level.
Emotional resilience is based on six areas: parental emotional flexibility, coping abilities, self-compassion, common humanity, family support, and social support. This framework provides parents with more personal and interpersonal resources to face various difficulties and adapt to negative emotions and events. It enables them to maintain good emotional health even when confronted with challenges.
Those with lower emotional resilience are easier to be affected mentally and physically. For example, there may be persistent feelings of low mood, pessimism, or unhappiness. It can result in a loss of interest in daily activities and social events. Besides, this can also lead to various physical symptoms such as insomnia, loss of appetite, fatigue, headaches, and stomachaches.
In response to this, Heep Hong Society, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Baptist University Department of Social Work, implemented the "Project PSI Preschool Children’s Parental Stress Intervention Study" from February 2022 to September 2023. This project was implemented in 32 kindergartens and 4 preschool rehabilitation service units. The study aimed to identify parents with low emotional resilience through the "Social Ecological Resilience Scale" and using "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" (CBT) to enhance parental emotional resilience and family functioning, reduce parental stress, and promote the emotional health of parents and children.
The "Project PSI Preschool Children’s Parental Stress Intervention’’ utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to assist parents of preschool children in recognizing personal thinking patterns and cognitive traps that arise in caring for their children. It involves learning different techniques to apply in changing thinking patterns, aiming to establish a new life experience and interpretation for parents of preschool children. This process aims to replace past negative experiences. This approach contributes to strengthening parents' ability to control their emotions and reducing emotional distress in the context of caring for preschool children.
Data from the CBT Intervention group indicates that, after intervention and in the three-month follow-up, the percentage of parents with negative emotions reaching a healthy level increased from 72% to 91%. The level of family functioning increased from 0.9% to 1.8%. The percentage of improvement in the difficulty level of children increased from 38% to 47%. The percentage of parents with high levels of emotional resilience reached from 60% to 76%. There was improvement in all four areas, and 90% of parents saw a return of their negative emotions to a healthy level. Some of these benefits persisted in the three-month follow-up.
Our partner, Professor Wong Fu-keung, Chair Professor of the Department of Social Work at Hong Kong Baptist University, also pointed out that the data reflects a corresponding decrease in emotional and behavioral difficulties in children when parental negative emotions are reduced. This indicates the correlation between parents and children in terms of emotional health. Effective intervention strategies not only assist parents in improving emotional health but should also enhance parents' resilience in facing adversity, indirectly improving the health and well-being of their children.
We have established the "Social Ecological Resilience Scale" to help parents and peers understand their emotional resilience, to identify parents with low emotional resilience as early as possible. The public can visit Heep Hong Society’s website to access relevant information and conduct self-assessments to understand their own situations.
Social Welfare Department has been providing "Social Work Service for Pre-Primary Institutions" to support the parents since 2018. This year, the service is localised to four districts, our team is assigned to provide services in Sham Shui Po starting from August. We aim to provide immediate intervention, professional counseling, and referral services to the pre-school children and their family members at risk of potential crisis.
I would like to dedicate this song Just Carry On by Terence Lam to everyone.
