Mindfulness helps Hong Kong children overcome anxiety and school pressures through yoga and hiking
More than one in four Hong Kong students have considered harming themselves or committing suicide, a survey shows. Groups such as The Collective Journey are using alternative methods to improve children’s mental health
When 10-year-old Nadia (not her real name) came home from school and cried non-stop for three hours, declaring she hated herself and her life, her mother Alison Clarke (a pseudonym) knew it was time to get help.
Clarke had suffered from depression on and off since adolescence, so she worried that, if left unchecked, her daughter’s frequent emotional outbursts would lead her down the same path.
Knowing that Nadia would be more open to children’s group activity than one-to-one therapy, Clarke searched online for workshops that would equip her daughter with the techniques to cope with daily pressures. She discovered The Collective Journey, a Hong-Kong based platform that offers mentorship experiences for children and adolescents through connection and with compassion.
Programmes include Trail Tribe group hiking, Wellness Circle mentoring sessions, and yoga. The Trail Tribe, designed for girls aged six to 12 years old, seemed the obvious choice for her active daughter.
“My daughter loves hiking with the mentor Melissa and the girls. In an entirely natural setting, they open up about their friendship issues, academic pressures, and fears. One time, they wrote down their fears on paper, threw them into a campfire, watched them burn and let them go,” says the stay-at-home mother of four.
