Student suicides in Hong Kong signal distressing lack of mental health support for our youth

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As students and parents grapple with the spate of suicides since the beginning of the academic year, much attention has been placed on the stressful environment fostered by parents and educators. After all, pre-university students are expected to go to school from 8am to 3pm, spend an additional two hours at tutorial school and, on top of it all, take part in extracurricular activities such as music classes and sports training. For university students, joining executive committees of student bodies (Hong Kong’s version of a fraternity) is seen as a rite of passage, and many work hard to achieve good academic results in order to secure a prosperous job.

The serious dialogue on how to improve our study-life balance must continue. At the same time, we must start paying more attention to mental health support. Perhaps the running joke, “If you’re mentally ill, go to Tsing San [Castle Peak] Hospital”, suggests a dangerous perception among Hong Kong students that mental illness is shameful, and anyone who seeks help is effectively “crazy”.

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Such stigmatisation is harmful because students will continue to perceive mental health as a taboo subject, while educational institutions refuse to place mental health discussions front and centre, to protect their reputation. If we do not change this mindset, more students will be denied support during a mental health crisis, and schools will once again be criticised for failing to prevent tragic incidents. Both students and the schools themselves will lose if we don’t create an environment of acceptance and understanding of people with mental health problems.

When more than four in 10 Hongkongers between the ages of 11 and 30 say they have experienced thoughts of suicide, we should acknowledge that many young adults go through moments of mental crisis at some point in their lives. Seeking support should not be viewed as a flaw or weakness, but as a sign of wisdom and courage for acknowledging that we all need a helping hand from time to time.

To really change the stigma of mental health, students, parents and educators must work together to promote a healthy conversation. At the pre-university level, parents play an important role in instilling the notion that “it’s OK to ask for help”. If children are more willing to open up at a young age, chances are they will be more willing to seek help at an older age.

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