Bulletin No. 1, 2011

A Caring Campus   5  And it’s about taking counselling beyond the couch. Ms. Liz Lau (above), head of the Student Counselling and Development Service Unit, and a clinical psychologist by training, explains the need for the campaign. ‘It was launched because there’d been so much stress in our society, not just on campus. Besides the University population has been growing and becoming more diverse. With the implementation of the 3+3+4 system in 2012, there’ll be an extra 3000 students joining us, who are younger and will not have gone through the challenge of taking the A-levels. We cannot raise the number of counsellors infinitely, so we need to build a support network involving students, administrative staff and teachers. We need to have a culture of caring in place.’ She adds that the campaign is also a response to the emergence of Positive Psychology in the West in the last 10 years or so. It’s a new branch of psychology that focuses on the empirical study of such things as the positive emotions, strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. ‘The campaign highlights the building of character strengths. We need to be strong, balanced and healthy to take care of others. But of course students with psychological problems will still be referred to counsellors,’ says Ms. Lau. Keep Caring Fun Day