From 20-28 March 2019, Mr. Zak WARREN, Clinical Director of Pearl Health Clinic in Idaho Falls in the US, who is an international consultant for Concordia Theological Seminary (CTS) and Family Counselling Centre (FCC) brought a team of mental health professionals to Hong Kong for a visit. Last year, in February 2018 to be precise, Mr. Zak WARREN and his co-workers also visited Hong Kong and CTS.
This year, CTS hosted the workshop which could be called "Mental Health in Hong Kong: Statistics and Practice" in connexion with their visit. Hong Kong mental health professionals affiliated with the FCC which is operated by the Lutheran Church Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS) made presentations. Dr. Felix TONG was instrumental in arranging those presentations, while being overseas. Mr. Louis HUANG, Mr. Ryan CHIU and Ms. Veronica LAI offered important information including material on suicide and on various therapies practised in Hong Kong.
On 25 March 2019, the team was introduced to Rev. Dr. Allan YUNG, LCHKS President, who gave encouragement and guidance to the team members accompanied by Rev. Dr. Richard CARTER and Dr. Matthew OSEKA. Dr. YUNG stressed the importance of counselling service especially in the school context and emphasised that the church should support young people in the area of mental health, thus lending stability to the community and stimulating its long-term development.
On the last day, Dr. Annissa LUI and Mr. Hezon TONG from Lutheran Social Service (LSS), which is an agency of the LCHKS, gave an overview of multiple projects carried out by LSS in Hong Kong for mental health and related services.
