Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong

To provide comprehensive community-based health services . . . to continuously improve existing services and to develop new models of care in response to service users’ needs . . . to empower users’ participation in policy formulation and service provision.

The community mental health programme of Richmond Fellowship began in Britain in 1959. It set up a halfway house where mentally-ill people who had been discharged from hospital could live after they completed their recovery and began reintegrating into the community. Since then the Fellowship’s idea of the therapeutic community as a mean of helping people to recover from mental illness has spread to more than 25 countries.

Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong was established in 1984. It is affiliated to the Richmond Fellowship International sharing the common aim of promoting good community care on mental health by providing education, training and working opportunities. In addition to residential training services and vocational services, the Fellowship has sought additional donation from funders to widen the scope of service and provide value-added services for service users. For example, with experience to operate farming project in Yuen Long, another project with Yuen Long Town Hall, namely “Farm With You” with similar purpose of providing mental health education activities to youths. Besides, we have introduced a Short-term Food Assistance Project, namely, “Daily Meal Network” which provide free meal to our service users as well as community members who are in need. Another major development in 2011 is the JUSTONE Mental Health Support Service. This project provides 24-hour support service to people with mental illness and their family members. In order to improve the service, the Fellowship will continue to provide volunteer training and put more efforts on promotion and education.

Another highlighted development in 2011 was the China Social Service Development Projects. By introduction of management support, clinical supervision and staff training to the China projects, the Fellowship aims at reinforcing’ the professionalism of mental health services in Mainland. Early in 1987, Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong began to co-operate with Guangzhou Civil Affairs Bureau to work on mental health field. In recent years, the Fellowship emphasizes on the development of mental health services in China. There are seven community-based services in China:

1. The “Sunflower Home” Day Activity Centre
2. Yang Guang Jia Ting Project
3. Nanshan Family Resource and Mental Health Centre for People with Disability
4. Guangzhou Likang Family Resource Centre
5. Guangzhou Limin Mental Health Social Work Resource Centre
6. Yuexiu Dongfeng District Integrated Family Service Centre
7. Longin Limin Mental Health Workstations

The Fellowship and Guangzhou Yuexiu District Disabled Person’s Federation are collaborating in a Yang Guang Jia Ting Project, which is a community support project for mental rehabilitation. It provide different activities and services to service users such as out-reaching family casework and mental health group that help ex-mentally ill persons to increase social inclusion and enhance the relationship with their family. It also provides professional training to local social workers in order to strengthen the professional level of community mental service. The Fellowship has helped Guangzhou District Disabled Person’s Federation to set up a Likang Family Resource Centre. The rehabilitative operation was changed into clubhouse model operation which aims to reinforce the participation of service users and self-determination of our service users. Moreover, the service of Likang Family Resource Centre succeeded in starting up a community mental rehabilitation service in Jin Sha Zhou District to handle community crisis. The “Sunflower Home” Day Activity Centre is another China project which was introduced by the Fellowship. It provides rehabilitative training and caregiver’ training to ex-mental ill patients to facilitate for their re-entering into the community. The model of medical social work services is adopted to strengthen the service professionalism in the field.

Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong’s funding comes from the Government of HKSAR, the Hong Kong Community Chest and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and other funders.