Website: http://shallwetalkfoundation.org/
Email: [email protected]
Project: https://act4sdgs.org/map2020/
About Me
I am Ho Sum Yee, a Theatre (Acting Concentration) major currently in the Dean College, Franklin. I am passionate about creating social change as an SDG leader. As a large mental health advocate, my interests lie in using my expertise in alleviating, educating, and raising awareness for adolescent mental wellbeing. I have a steady source of motivation and ambition that drives me to continuously involve and indulge in the mental health field with the identity of the role as a performer, actor, and teenager.
Project Description
Project AngelLine offers an open platform to allow Greater Bay Area (“GBA”) youth that receives minimum mental health support to seek help. The initiative’s main objective is to develop a platform for youth in the GBA through mental health support matching and working with a youth crisis intervention expert (“Angels”). Guided and prepared by a manual developed from a combination of common knowledge and multidisciplinary (psychotherapy, drama therapy) professional guidelines, the initiative represents a strategic opportunity for teenagers to implement a non-traditional approach- being able to become trained listeners, supplant friendship and support empathetically at the forefront of a professional objective.
This endeavor is underpinned by 3 key concepts: one, alleviating the heavy stigma against mental health, which is exacerbated by an underdeveloped culture of identifying and treating mental health in the GBA area; two, bringing accessible mental health support- a professional objective through common, “self-help” methodologies and bringing the “self-help” methodology to achieve a professional objective through Angelline; three, promote mental wellbeing for Hong Kong youth of all backgrounds.
The current objective for summer 2020 is to undergo market testing by piloting the manual. We are expecting a thoughtful evaluation and development process by replicating the user experience of Angeline for 10 beneficiaries and angels, laying a foundation to systematize and synchronize efforts to scale up in the future.
The macro-objective aims to specifically address a marginalized community of youth that receive minimum to none mental health support and resources in Hong Kong. Through initiating the two developmental stages (scaled test marketing, broadened the proof-of-concept), the wider initiative focuses on the creation of an ecosystem of support consisting of peer crisis intervention experts and mentees.