22 HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT
Not enough counsellors for local university students Reported by King Woo Edited by Kenji Chan
The counselling service leaflets and posters only can find in the Counselling and Development Centre.
ratio is around 1 to 2,800. Other the Hong Kong Jockey Club public universities in Hong Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the UniverKong are around 1 to 1,000. sity of Hong Kong. The recommended ratio of schools counsellors to students is And 33 post-secondary students 1 to 500-700 students, according committed suicide between 2013 At Hong Kong Baptist Univer- to the US National Association and 2016, according to a report sity, six full-time psychological of School Psychologists. from the Education Bureau. counselors serve the university’s nearly 11,000 students. The mental health of Hong More university students need That means one counselor per Kong students is alarming, with counselling than secondary 1,766 students. suicides by full-time students school students, said Political aged 15 to 24 increasing more Assistant to the Secretary for At City University of Hong than 70% over the last five Education Jeff Sze ChunKong, the counsellor student years, according to a report by fai. He added that university The ratio of psychological counsellors to students in universities in Hong Kong falls far below standards recommended by the US National Association of School Psychologists.