Mental health issues have aroused widespread concern in the community in recent years. In 2021, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) launched the ‘Mind and Study Matter: Tutoring and Counselling Programme’ (the Programme), in collaboration with social enterprise Edge Development Centre. The objective is to train students from local universities and fresh graduates to become Well-being Tutors (the Tutors), and to provide quality tutorial and counselling services for secondary school students from low-income families with mental health needs.

To date, the Programme has successfully trained 120 Well-Being Tutors to serve 186 local secondary students with psychological needs. Two students with suicidal tendencies were identified and promptly referred to a psychiatrist for medical evaluation and diagnosis.

After completion of the Programme, EdUHK interviewed the participating students, as well as their parents and teachers, and found an improvement in their study confidence and their emotional management ability.

Small Group and Individual Counselling for Students Living in Poverty

The Programme was funded by HSBC Private Banking customers and was led by a team of scholars from the Department of Special Education and Counselling (SEC) at EdUHK, and professionals from the Edge Development Centre, including educational psychologists, counselling psychologists and clinical psychologists. An online learning platform was established to train the Tutors in various skills, including teaching and counselling techniques, psychological therapy and crisis management. The Tutors were required to complete approximately 40 hours of training and pass all examinations and interviews before being eligible to provide suitable teaching and counselling services under the close supervision of the professional team. 

The attending students of the Programme were from low-income families and suffered from varying degrees of stress and emotional distress. The Tutors provided them with three-hour group counselling (two to five people per group) every week, including tutoring support, emotional management and positive psychological education. To address individual needs, the participants also received a one-hour personal counselling service from the Tutor every month. Under the supervision of clinical psychologists, each group service lasted for 10 months.

New Service Model to Meet Students’ Psychological Needs 

The Project Leader of the Programme, Dr Cherry Yum Yan-na, Associate Head of SEC at EdUHK said, “Their academic studies have always been the main source of stress for secondary students. This is why we hope to start from the root, through tutoring support, to build trust between the Tutors and students, and then guide them in dealing with the emotional, personal growth, and stress issues in their lives.”

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Programme, EdUHK collected quantitative data from students, teachers and parents before and after tutoring to learn about the changes in students. A wait-list control group was set up to compare the performance of students who received the service and those who did not in areas of emotional management, behavioural problems and personal accomplishment. The findings showed that students who had received the service experienced a significant improvement in working memory and cognitive flexibility. They also had fewer emotional symptoms, behavioural problems and emotional exhaustion, as well as increased resilience in the face of adversity (Table 1).

Dr Kean Poon Kei-yan, another Project Leader of the Programme and an Adjunct Professor of SEC at EdUHK, explained that executive function includes three core elements: working memory, self-control and cognitive flexibility. Many studies have shown that students with strong executive function perform better in academic achievement and self-care behaviour. Cognitive flexibility affects people's ability to adjust in the face of change. Dr Poon said she believes that this “all-round tutoring programme" will improve students’ learning and resilience, as well as their relationship with their parents, thus reducing the pressure on their parents.

Table 1

Mean and standard deviations of the study variables between pretest and post-test in students.                                                   

EdUHK’s First Tutoring and Counselling Programme Helping Hand for Students with Mental Health Needs

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The Project Leaders of the Programme, Dr Cherry Yum Yan-na , Associate Head of SEC at EdUHK (left), and Dr Kean Poon, Adjunct Professor of SEC at EdUHK, hope the Programme will fundamentally help students and parents from low-income families

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Well-being Tutor Emily (left) says the Programme benefits her with valuable front-line experience in counselling under the supervision of an expert team

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Well-being Tutor Maxis says tutoring helps her establish relationships with students to provide psychological support for them

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