Media

In Hong Kong, drug addiction among young adults has become an increasingly prevalent issue, with many turning to drug use as a means of coping with stress, mood-related problems, and boredom. Ironically, most of the young adults struggling with drug problems had not sought professional help or other forms of social support in dealing with problems resulting from taking drugs.  Currently, most drug rehabilitation services in Hong Kong focus on reducing drug use and providing psychoeducation on drug-related mental health issues. Although these traditional forms of drug abuse treatment were found empirically efficacious, frontline workers are confronted with the issue of non-compliance, and more importantly, drop-out from programs especially among young adult drug abusers. There is an imminent need for synergizing innovation to revamp Hong Kong’s drug rehabilitation service, and young adult drug abusers need professional assistance that is appealing to them to help them cope.

Sponsored by the Beat Drugs Fund, a project called “From Addiction to Creation: Project on Using Creative Arts for Drug Use Prevention and Young Adult Drug Users Empowerment (CAPE)” which aimed to integrate creative arts with drug rehabilitation services in Hong Kong, was organized by the Centre on Behavioral Health, the University of Hong Kong between June 2019 and January 2024. The four-and-a-half-year CAPE project consisted of four main components: (1) Carry out multimedia community education and inclusion activities to raise young adults’ awareness of drug issues and strengthen their understanding of common drug harms. (2) Conduct Train-the-Trainer workshop for frontline staff to equip them with the skills to incorporate arts into drug rehabilitation services. (3) Provide creative arts-based rehabilitation services. (4) Carry out project evaluation and make use of creative arts as an intervention approach for local drug rehabilitation services.

During the four-and-a-half-year period, training workshops specially designed by expressive arts therapists from the Centre on Behavioral Health were conducted for frontline staff. Through training and supervision, 30 frontline professionals from more than 20 different social welfare agencies were equipped with the basic principles, skills, experience and mindset to integrate creative arts into drug rehabilitation services. After the training, these frontline professionals also launched the "Creative arts drug rehabilitation program" in drug treatment institutions and provided an 8-week programme of creative arts-based rehabilitation services to 175 drug rehabilitees.

Project “CAPE” art exhibition cum closing ceremony and press conference will be held on 18 January 2024 (Thursday) to showcase the artworks of drug rehabilitees, introduce the CAPE project and release research findings. Frontline professionals and participants in the programme will share their experiences on the occasion. 

Details are as follows: 
Date: 18 January 2024 (Thursday)
Time: 2:30 pm
Venue: Centre on Behavioral Health, 2/F., 5 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese 

For media enquiries and more details, please contact Ms. Amy Choi (Tel: 2831 5163; amychoi@hku.hk), Dr. Adrian Wan (Tel: 2831 5578; awan@hku.hk), Centre on Behavioral Health, HKU; or Ms. Melanie Wan, Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU (Tel: 2859 2600; melwkwan@hku.hk).