Pandemic, social distancing getting you down? Mental health support offered free of charge via charity Mind HK

Mental health charity is offering free remote guidance sessions for Hongkongers whose mental well-being has suffered the most from the Covid-19 pandemic

It has also made it easier to find out where to get mental health support, after 43 per cent of Hongkongers surveyed reported a decline in their mental state

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Mind HK volunteers have been trained to help vulnerable Hongkongers find support to deal with mental well-being issues during the pandemic. Photo: Mind HK

Published: 1:15pm, 22 Aug 2020Updated: 5:21pm, 23 Aug 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has hit our mental well-being hard. Many more people are experiencing anxiety and depression and there has been an increased demand for mental health care. In response, the mental health charity Mind HK has launched initiatives to support Hongkongers, especially the most vulnerable.

Mind HK announced its plans alongside the results of a survey conducted in May which found that 43 per cent of Hongkongers noted a decline in their mental health during the early months of the pandemic. It also found that 49 per cent of respondents reported feeling lonely, which affected their mental health and well-being.

“On paper it’s a big number, nearly 50 per cent, but from a professional point of view it’s unsurprising. No one saw [coronavirus] coming. None of us anticipated that it would hit as hard as it has done. And there’s the element of it being so prolonged, everyone is feeling really fatigued by it all,” says Teresa Chan, clinical adviser at Mind HK.

The survey found the main barrier to seeking mental health support to be safety concerns around the pandemic, and 21 per cent of those with experience of mental health problems reported this as a difficulty in accessing mental health support or treatment.

Teresa Chan is a clinical adviser at Mind HK in Hong Kong. Photo: May Tse

Chan, who works in private practice as a psychotherapist, says the impact on people’s mental health is being seen across the spectrum, from having a low mood, to anxiety – which heightens a person’s sense of threat and fear – to symptoms of depression, especially in relation to the social distancing restrictions.