Mental health is one of the key elements of a good quality life. However, most people, even though they are living a stress-ridden urban life which can cause a host of mental problems, are just concerned about their physical health and most of the time they overlook signs of mental health problems. On the other hand, despite time advances, the society in general still has merely partial and biased view of mental illness, misconceptions and discrimination against people with mental illness thus abound. Thinking that these people are having a higher propensity for violence and they are a threat to the community are the most common stigmas. It is such a kind of prejudice and misunderstanding that hinder people with mental illness, who want to become self-reliant and lead a normal life, from integrating into the community.

In view of such, we dedicate our efforts to promoting community mental health education actively through talks, seminars, exhibitions and media interviews, with an aim to enhance the public’s understanding and acceptance towards people with mental illness and to raise their awareness on maintaining good mental health. In October 1993, we took the first step to participate organising the very first Mental Health Week, and publish “New Life Road” which featured 21 stories of people with mental illness. Over the years, we have been promoting mental health with different themes and targets such as the youth, elderly, women, families, and so on. In recent years, we tried to employ themes and approaches closer to the community, such as inclusive art and stand-up comedy, so that mental health messages would be more readily accepted by the public.

In 2006, we had a number of people with mental illness and young volunteers joining hands in the stage performance "Door Inside-Out" which featured drama, dance, movement and singing to share their stories with the audience. From 2007 to 2008, we organised a four-session “Inclusive Family Movement” Workshop in 5 districts for people with mental illness and their families. Through interactive and experiential activities and sharing, they learnt non-verbal expression to communicate with one and other in an attempt to enhance their relationship, mutual respect and care. They even set foot on the stage to share with the public the message of family harmony and social inclusion.

In 2009, the “Torch of Happiness” Mental Health Promotion Campaign funded by the Labour and Welfare Bureau was launched to promote positive mental health message through fun-filled activities such as egg-tarts making and crafts production, eco-tourism activities, short film competition and stand-up comedy. It proved that the “Stand-up for Mental Health” Talk Show, which was performed by the veteran comedian Mr. Cheung Tat Ming, renowned psychiatrist Dr. Tsang Fan Kwong and the comic star Vivek Mahbubani, was a successful innovative attempt and response was very positive. While bringing us huge encouragement, it also reflected that in the society there exists a growing concern about mental health. We commit to bring in other exciting programmes that deal innovatively and effectively with the topic of mental health to the people of Hong Kong.

With an aim to promote mental health in the workplace, seminars and courses are organised for companies, organisations and schools to share experience and provide mental health education. Popular topics include “Mental Health and Mental Disorder”, "Prevention and Management of Violence & Challenging Behaviours", “Managing Difficult Customers in the Workplace” and “Turning Stress to Motives”. Most of these are tailor-made programmes aim to fulfill the organisers’ specific needs in promoting employees’ mental health and building up a happy workplace.

Undoubtedly there has been a rising concern over youth mental health problems in recent years. In response to this trend in a proactive way, not only would we receive visits from primary and secondary schools to the Association to enhance their understanding of people with mental illness and the community psychiatric rehabilitation services, we also organise talks in the schools for students and teachers on stress management. Delivering youth mental health programmes in collaboration with schools is another way of promoting mental health knowledge among students. One example of such was “Wise Up to Mental Health” in 2008, in which lectures and small groups were conducted. In late 2009, endeavour in promoting youth mental health extended to cover outdoors activities like eco-tourism.