Letters | Social connection and purpose are also vital for mental health

Readers discuss a more holistic approach to fostering youth resilience, The Last Dance’s re-release on the silver screen, and enticing visitors to Hong Kong

Reading Time:3 minutes

Creating school and community environments conducive to supportive peer connections is key to building resilience among our youth. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:30am, 13 Apr 2025

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification

I refer to the insightful letter, “Suicide in Hong Kong: don’t pit wellness measures against medical treatment” (March 26), advocating for more holistic strategies to address youth mental health challenges in Hong Kong.

While the biopsychosocial model offers a valuable framework for understanding these complex issues, my experience navigating mental health challenges for more than a decade suggests that incorporating a spiritual dimension – resulting in a biopsychosocial-spiritual model – provides a more complete perspective essential for fostering genuine resilience and recovery among our youth.

Drawing upon this experience, I wish to highlight two factors crucial for implementing such a truly comprehensive approach.

First, when young people feel isolated by academic pressures and social anxieties, authentic peer relationships provide an invaluable source of non-judgmental understanding and validation from others navigating similar life stages.

This form of support, distinct from formal interventions, constitutes an essential component of one’s personal safety net, fostering belonging within their own community. Creating school and community environments conducive to such supportive peer connections is key to building resilience among our youth.