SHIELD & GATES: Protect lives, train to be a Gatekeeper
HAND: Give and receive help
STARS: Hope is all around us
TREE/Ψ: Nurture mental health
WINGS: Uplift each other
INSTITUTION & COLOUR: Each school a unique member of S.H.I.E.L.D.S
Contact Us:
☎ 2831-5192
✉ hku.shields@gmail.com
instagram.com/hku.shields
Program Contents
Student Workshop
A 4-hour interactive seminar covering student mental health issues, self-care, recognizing signs of distress (including on social media) and skills to support and refer peers
Inter-school Day Camp
A full-day fun experience on HKU campus to further develop practical gatekeeping and empathic listening skills, including games, role-plays and more
Student-led Project & Network
Students will receive a start-up fund and expert consultation to design their own mental health projects in school, and set up a group that continues the work even after the project ends
University Student Mentor
S.H.I.E.L.D.S. gatekeepers will be assigned a university student mentor to support them throughout their journey
School Staff Workshop
Two 2-hour seminars covering youth mental and suicide for school staff, and the why and how of applying a student leadership model of school mental health promotion
Graduation Ceremony
Upon successful completion, students will receive a HKU S.H.I.E.L.D.S. certificate at the award ceremony, with experience sharing and presentation of evaluation results
Student workshop
Foundational training will be delivered interschool in the form of a half-day seminar with fun and interactive elements such as games and quizzes to engage students and deepen learning. The content will be delivered by the Centre’s mental health training experts and cover student mental health issues, how to recognise signs of distress, self-care, skills to support peers and the influence of social media on suicide.
By discussing suicide and self-harm, we aim to demystify what is widely perceived as a challenging or taboo topic, and make help-seeking more acceptable, accessible, and safe for those in distress or crisis.
Student-led Project & Network
After successful completion of the school-based project, school teams will be invited to collaborate with one or more other teams to submit a proposal for an extended project, which will be scaled up in terms of project scope, target beneficiaries, and setting. The extended project aims to further expand student leaders’ capacity, teamwork and knowledge to contribute to mental health and suicide prevention in the wider community and beyond.
The Centre will provide each school with a start-up fund and expert consultation for the student leaders to design, implement and evaluate their student-led mental health projects. Through this process, students will gain experience in independently working on social innovation projects.
Inter-school Day Camp
This training will equip students with essential skills in as student leader and gatekeeper, including active and empathic listening, recognizing signs of distress and crisis, knowing levels of risks, encouraging help-seeking, and responding to needy peers in safe and effective ways.
Students will be immersed in a full-day interactive day camp experience on HKU campus, to further develop in-depth understanding and practical skills in being mental health and leaders learnt from the workshop. It will be delivered in a variety of modes, including role-plays, games, experiential learning, collaborative exercises, and sharing from special guests.
University Student Mentor
Each student leader will be part of a mentorship group led by a trained university student mentor, who can act as a positive role model to give advice on the student-led project and how to be a peer supporter, as well as giving general support and encouragement to the students. They will be active participants in the activities and Day Camp as well as the mentorship messaging group as the students finish training and apply their new learning into their school mental health leadership.
School Staff Workshop
This workshop covers basic knowledge about mental health and suicide targeting school staff, and features sharing from schools that have successfully implemented student mental health leadership schemes. Staff will also be shown the advantages of applying a student-led model and new skills and ways to support and facilitate student leadership.
Graduation Ceremony
A graduation ceremony will be held after the completion of the trainings and student-led projects, to acknowledge, thank and encourage all participants and schools for their personal and collective growth, as well as their achievements and contribution in serving their school communities. A Student Leader certificate will be issued to participants upon satisfactory completion of programme. The ceremony will also consist sharing’s of valuable experiences and lessons learnt, as well as the presentation of evaluation results.
After the end of the 2 years, a public presentation will be held to share the results and achievements of the participating schools, with the aim to increase awareness among the public and other school communities on the importance of student-leadership in mental health promotion and suicide prevention.