Hong Kong’s ‘invisible victims’: children from ethnic minority groups struggling with mental health problems, worsened by Covid-19
- Children increasingly battling depression and other issues as they endure poverty, physical abuse, forced marriage, social impact of Covid-19
- With support of Operation Santa Claus, Zubin Foundation is setting up city’s first well-being centre for counselling ethnic minority kids
The Zubin Foundation, which focuses on helping members of marginalised ethnic minorities, is setting up the city’s first well-being centre that offers counselling in Hindi, Urdu and English for children aged five and over.
The idea came after staff at the charity, which also operates as a think tank, noticed a worrying trend of cases involving young people with psychological issues.
The Zubin Foundation created a similar well-being centre for adults in September last year, where they also received a disproportionately high number of visits from those of Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese descent.
Established in 2014, The Zubin Foundation is one of this year’s 19 beneficiaries. It hopes to provide 600 therapies for 50 children over the next two years.
Shalini Mahtani, the organisation’s founder and CEO, said the pandemic had worsened poverty problems, which in turn triggered more mental health issues among children.
“In particular, we have seen children who are experiencing acute poverty, especially during Covid-19,” Mahtani said. “We have seen poverty in the ethnic minority community reach disastrously high levels.”