The issue
Hongkongers grapple with a slew of environmental, personal and social stressors, all risk factors of common mental health problems. Against a surging demand for mental health services, however, there remains a shortage of mental health professionals and services to fulfil the pressing need. On top of prolonged wait time and unnecessary treatment delay in public healthcare settings (the average longest waiting time is 88 weeks for stable new cases), costly private psychological services (basic consultation fee is around HKD 1500-2000 per session), unavailability of non-working hours and night psychological services, and mental health-related stigma pose barriers for accessing mental health services in the local community.
The solution
“Affordable and still professional”
Wellness Travellers is here to take anyone in need on a journey to rejuvenation. Instead of focusing only on high-intensity interventions, the company advocates evidence-based, low-intensity and cost-effective psychological treatments that matches treatment intensity to patient needs, including guided self-help interventions and group workshops. Services are made flexible and referrals to high-intensity professionals are made where necessary, boosting accessibility for all users on the spectrum.
The team also offers lifestyle-oriented services and well-being workshops ranging from lifestyle medicine, behavioural sleep medicine, forest bathing, Zentangle, traditional Chinese medicine concepts, corporate training and retreats.
Impact
Wellness Travellers is the first social enterprise that promotes low-intensity psychological interventions and lifestyle-oriented services. It strives to provoke a paradigm shift via a stepped-care model, which significantly improves capacity and relieve burdens on public psychological services. This enables timelier consultations and improved treatment quality. In the long run, Wellness Travellers not only enhances people’s resilience to mental disorders but mental health literacy in the community.
Beneficiaries
– People concerned about their mental well-being
– NGOs
– Private companies
Project Team
Fiona focuses her research on low-intensity psychological intervention for common mental disorders and integrative medicine (such as cognitive behavioural therapy and traditional Chinese medicine), actively seeking new models for effective mental health services. She is also interested in studying sleep disturbance in psychological disorders. Fiona received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from HKU.
