NEWS/ HONG KONG/ CITY

Press Release – Immediate

 Mental Health Counselling

Brings Hope to Hong Kong’s Ethnically Diverse Communities

Hong Kong, 8 October 2025 – As the world observes World Mental Health Day on 10 October, we need to ask if mental health is accessible to the poorest in Hong Kong. With one-third of the ethnically diverse population living in poverty, and this population continuing to rise, what is available to them? For the wealthy non-Chinese speaking population, they can access a plethora of counselling in the
private sector.

“In counselling, a client has to be able to communicate with the counsellor, and that’s why both language and the cultural understanding of the counsellor is critical if we want the client to connect and share,” says Shalini Mahtani, CEO of The Zubin Foundation, a local charity in Hong Kong with a mission to improve the lives of the ethnically diverse population in Hong Kong.

The Zubin Foundation has been providing free one-to-one counselling services to ethnically diverse communities since 2019, through the Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre. As mental health challenges rise globally, this initiative brings timely and transformative care to Hong Kong’s diverse communities.

Counselling Services for Ethnically Diverse Communities

Since December 2023, The Zubin Foundation operates the government’s Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre (EMWBC in short). Between 28 December 2023 and 30 June 2025, EMWBC has provided 1,683 counselling sessions for 230 individuals free of charge. The sessions are led by professional, qualified counsellors who can speak Hindi, Urdu or Nepali, and English. The majority of clients are women (75%), and half are under the age of 30 (50%). This is in line with the global trend of more women than men seeking help and younger individuals being more receptive to counselling than the older generations. 

The breakdown of clients by ethnicity are Pakistani (31%), Indian (28%), Nepali (13%), and Filipino (13%). What is worrying Mahtani adds is that ‘clients come to us when they are already at high levels of depression, anxiety and stress, and notably, 64% of clients scored in the severe or extremely severe range on the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), highlighting the urgent need for culturally competent mental health support.’

Full Press Release (English): Read Here >>

Full Press Release (Chinese): Read Here >>