Policy Address

  1. Social media has profound impacts on the mental health of children and adolescents. The DH will update relevant guidelines to mitigate the impact of social media on the health of children and adolescents.

  2. Basic mental health programme has already been made a compulsory subject for first-year students in some tertiary institutions, with related support provided for students in need. The Government will encourage more institutions to promote mental health on campus.

  3. Currently, three DHCs provide free mental-health assessments and arrange follow-up services under the Healthy Mind Pilot Project, producing satisfactory results. The Government will extend the project in 2026 to cover six more DHCs, with follow-up services to be provided by practitioners with an academic background and training in fields such as psychology or counselling.

  4. Leverage technologies to enhance mental health services. Initiatives include strengthening telehealth services for psychiatric day hospitals and outreach services to provide suitable patients with more convenient service options, and enhancing the text counselling platform for online emotional support and the Cyber Youth Support Teams of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) by strengthening AI application for more precise identification of high-risk targets in need of support.

  5. Complete the formulation of the stepped care model on mental health by the end of this year, setting out the roles of mental health professionals and stakeholders, as well as their division of work in mental health services, enhancing training to raise professionals' awareness of making referrals, and establishing the referral mechanism.