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)
Good morning everyone. The Zubin Foundation is an integrated service provider for the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. We are a registered charity that seeks to improve the lives of ethnic minorities.
In 2019, we started a pilot project to develop native language counselling for low-income ethnic minorities by qualified counsellors. In 2024, the project became an initiative of the Health Bureau of the Hong Kong government but continued to be operated by The Zubin Foundation.
The Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre has now expanded to all non-Chinese Hong Kong residents who are 18 years of age and above offering free one-to-one counselling services in English, Hindi, Urdu and Nepali. In the last 5 years, over 400 people have received the counselling support from our centre. Indian, Pakistani, Nepali and Filipino are currently the largest ethnic groups that come for counselling.
Over 60% of our clients score severe or extremely severe in one of the scales of depression, anxiety and stress when they first approached us for counselling. Many of them have suffered from mental health issues for years but have not talked to anyone about their issues before. There is a need to raise the awareness of mental health in the ethnic minorities’ community and address some barriers they face as seeking mental health support.
In our outreach work, we see many individuals have accepted their sadness, anxiety and excessive stress as a normal part of their lives. Often times, unlike dealing with their physical health symptoms, they do not see a need to address them even if they have been suffering for a long time.
Usually even if they become aware that they need help, many are concerned about the stigma surrounding mental health in the community; worrying that people will perceive their mental health issues as being crazy, violent or weak.
Sometimes ethnic minorities are concerned that their personal issues will become known to others in their community, resulting in shame, loss of honour or loss of ‘face’ not only to themselves but also to their families, which further hinders them from seeking support.
Language and cultures are other barriers for Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities in seeking help for their mental health. Many of the mental health practitioners in Hong Kong are ethnically Chinese and do not speak the native languages of the ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong.
This can create challenges for mental health practitioners to be able to fully understand the situation of the clients and the possible underlying cause. For example, many go to the doctor stating they are experiencing fatigue, not sleeping well, getting headaches or having stomach ache and not realizing that there may be underlying mental health causes or issues. The practitioner may therefore focus on treating these physical causes without being fully aware of the person’s situation.
While use of translators can help address the language barriers, some ethnic minorities may be concerned to speak about their personal issues in front of the translators as they can be from the same community.
The most common presenting symptoms we find from our clients at the Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre are anxiety, depression, stress, self-harm tendencies, low self-esteem and anger management.
But what causes these issues? Triggers include family conflicts especially intergenerational conflicts such as differences in values between traditional parents and children who are born and brought up in Hong Kong. Other factors include differential treatment between boys and girls, lack of communication or even forced marriage. The differences can create conflicts like the way the children should dress, compliance to religious practices, values towards education and work and views on marriage.
We also see many clients coming in marital conflicts. This is due to power imbalances, as many cultures are still patriarchal. The responsibility of the children and household falls on the mother while providing financially falls on the father, and he is also the main decision maker. Sometimes conflicts arise because of different views of household finance and raising children. The responsibilities of managing large families can also be a contributing factor towards mental health concerns. Sometimes these conflicts can get more evolved and lead to domestic violence.
Also notably being a minority in Hong Kong, we do see clients struggling with discrimination at work, their studies or even their daily lives.
We may all be facing different challenges in lives. For those who have been suffering low mood or issues of managing their emotions for a prolonged period of time, we encourage you to consider talking to a professional. It provides you with a safe space for you to talk about your issues, understand yourself and the situation bothering you, and it helps you think about ways to cope with your issues and manage them better.
If you are a non-Chinese, Hong Kong resident, 18 years of age or above, comfortable with speaking English, Hindi, Urdu or Nepali and would like to consider counselling, call or WhatsApp us at 96823100 or visit our website at emwbc.zubinfoundation.org to find out more about our service.
This morning I would like to dedicate a song called “Love You Zindagi”, which is a Hindi language song and is sung by Amit Trivedi, Jasleen Royal and Kausar Munir. “Love you Zindagi” translates to love you life. It is a song that talks about ups and downs in life and how to embrace it with a smile because you know that tough times don’t last forever and there is always a way out. Also this song is from a movie where the main character seeks counselling and understands that her childhood’s trauma has led to many decisions that she is leading in her current life.
“Investing in Prevention”
KELY Support Group has been dedicated to youth wellbeing in Hong Kong since our establishment in 1991. We are committed to seeing young people reach their full potential, and the latest drug use trends among young people in our city concern us greatly.
Government statistics are showing a decline in substance abuse among youth, but our on-the-ground experience tells a different story. Through our drug education programmes, we reach over 7,000 secondary school students annually. Around 30% of these young people indicate that they have people in their lives who have used drugs or abused alcohol. This figure suggests the problem remains pervasive, despite official reports.
In addition, we are also seeing some of the largest drug busts in Hong Kong's history in recent years showing a persistent availability and demand for illicit substances. In a society already grappling with rising mental health challenges, this is a deeply worrying trend with far-reaching consequences.
The impact of youth substance abuse extends far beyond the individual. It places immense strain on families, as they struggle to support loved ones suffering from addiction. And for society at large. Financial and social costs are staggering from healthcare expenditures, lost productivity, and community safety issues.
Underlying this crisis is a profound and persistent stigma around mental health and addiction in Hong Kong. While the city is starting to make progress in recognizing the mental health needs of young people, there is still a long way to go. Substance abuse, in particular, remains a deeply taboo subject. Many still look at it as a moral failing rather than the mental health condition it truly is. This stigma is a major barrier preventing young people from seeking help when they need it. Instead of being celebrated for their courage, they are often shamed and ostracized. and almost forced to suffer in silence until their condition spirals into a full-blown crisis.
That is why, this World Drug Day, KELY Support Group is calling for a renewed, evidence-based focus on prevention - one that starts with fostering a culture where early help-seeking for addiction is seen as a sign of strength, not weakness.
Research shows that for every dollar invested in prevention programmes, ten dollars are saved down the line. Yet this long-term, complex work is often overlooked in favour of reactive, short-term solutions and costly rehabilitative work. The data is plain and simple, and it is up to us to make smart, strategic investments in protecting our young people.
We suggest three key approaches to building a future free from the devastating grip of substance abuse: empowering trusted adults to model healthy behaviours, providing early intervention, and equipping youth with positive coping mechanisms. By taking a proactive, holistic approach that tackles the root causes, we can prevent the tragedies that tear families and communities apart.
But we cannot do this alone. We urge policymakers, funders, and the wider community to join us in this critical effort. Only through a coordinated, multi-stakeholder strategy can we truly address the complex, interconnected drivers of youth substance abuse in Hong Kong. This means establishing a cross-sectoral task force to prioritize and align prevention efforts and share best practices in addition to our usual rehabilitation goals. It means increasing the funding pot for evidence-based programmes run by trusted community organizations. It means integrating substance abuse efforts into broader youth development initiatives focused on mental health, life skills, and positive coping mechanisms. Above all, it means destigmatising addiction and viewing it as a treatable mental health condition, and not a moral failing.
The time to act is now. Together, we can build a future where seeking help for addiction is seen as a courageous first step, not a source of shame. A future where every young person in Hong Kong has the support they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives, free from the devastation of substance abuse.
This morning, I'd like to dedicate " When we stand together" by Nickelback
to everyone who's going through a tough time and facing challenges in their lives.