As DSE results are about to be released, David Cheng, executive director of The Samaritans Befrienders Hong Kong, is on Straight Talk this week, to talk about programs in suicide prevention, public education and community support.

Check out the full transcript of TVB’s Straight Talk host Eugene Chan Kin-keung’s interview with David Cheng:

Chan: Welcome to Straight Talk with Eugene Chan. Our guest this week is David Cheng, executive director of the Samaritans Befrienders Hong Kong. Cheng brings more than 34 years of senior management experience in Hong Kong's social service sector, having led prominent NGOs such as TREATS, Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation and Impact Hong Kong. He has been a strong advocate for suicide prevention, securing over HK$10 million in government and charitable funding for programs in suicide prevention, public education and community support. Welcome to Straight Talk, David!

Cheng: Thank you.

Background

Chan: Right. I think many Hong Kong people have heard about the Samaritans Befrienders group in suicide prevention and mental health support. Could you share with us, with the viewers, what are the main emotional and mental health challenges facing Hong Kong today?

Cheng: Well, in regard to our services and our figures, there are a lot of people who are having problems with their personal relationship with others, especially with the family and also with the peers as well as with people in their workplace. So, I think the most important thing is to let these people to have someone to talk to so that we can help them.

Chan: The title of the show today is “How can we better support those in crisis?”

Cheng: Yes.

Chan: And, as you know, the DSE result is going to be released tomorrow. I'm not saying that all our students will be in crisis. But would you say academic results are one of those lifetime challenges that we have that could be stressful?

Cheng: Oh sure. Because you see, when we are having such a lifetime crisis, we would usually hide ourselves and be isolated, and we don't want to talk to anybody. And that is the problem. Not the crisis itself, but the isolation and loneliness is the basic, very important issue.

Chan: Right. I believe Samaritans was established in 1960, some 65 years ago, and I believe it's one of the earliest establishments in Hong Kong. And how has the demand for this service changed from your point of view over the last 55 years? How much has it changed?

Cheng: Well, in the beginning, I think Samaritans was basically for English speakers. So, it turns out a lot of needs from the local Chinese have arisen over the years. Now we are doing almost all – 80 to 90 percent of our services – for locals. And I think throughout the years there have been changes of the needs. At the beginning, most probably they were asking about issues about economics, about livelihoods. But nowadays, people are talking more about mental health, their personal needs, their financial needs, things like this, so the changes are like that.

Chan: Right. If I'm going to ask you, what will be the suicide figures, say, for the year 2025, as a reference? How many unfortunate incidents have happened?

Cheng: If we are talking about death cases, we have more than 1,000 persons suicide and died.

Chan: So, nearly three people per day?

Cheng: Yes, on average.

Chan: Are there any seasons that are more with increased number of cases?

Cheng: Well, I don't think so. It's quite average. But there are risk periods that we caught. For example, during, let's say, the examination results release day. And there are also dates that we found – during festivals, for example, Christmas or something like that, the risk might rapidly …

Chan: I thought those should be happy times.

Cheng: There are a lot of lonely people that are not happy.

Chan: I see, I see. When you mention over a thousand cases per year, on average, three persons a day sounds a lot to me. So, how many phone calls that Samaritan preference might receive per day in that case?

Cheng: If we are talking about really suicide-related cases, we identify about 16,000 per year.

Chan: Per year.

Cheng: From this year.

Chan: Right, so at least a few hundred per day.

Cheng: Right. Fewer, not 100, say 50 or 60 or 60 calls a day.

Chan: Actually, as we were having a chat before the show, you said that Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong is not the only organization that helps our community. There will be a few more in Hong Kong.

Cheng: Yeah, totally. There are three organizations that are working for suicide prevention. SBHK, what we call SBHK Samaritans Preventers is one of them. And the other one is the Suicide Prevention Services. And also another one is the Samaritans Hong Kong. Actually, we are working together to help Hong Kong people.

Chan: Actually, when you talk about like 50, 60 calls a day, just on your organization, if you add the other two, you could be over a few hundred cases.

Cheng: Yeah, should be.

Chan: So, what if our Hong Kong community didn't have a chance to call, make these a few hundred calls? I mean, can you anticipate the unfortunate numbers could be even higher?

Cheng: I think, yeah, really so. Because we have quite a number of successful cases and that we help people get out of their, what we say, the lowest point of their life and let them rejuvenate again. And without our call, without our services, we also do counseling services for them, these people might not be living until now.

Chan: So, David, before I forget, what are your telephone numbers? Are they easily located on the internet?

Cheng: Yes.

Chan: Yes?

Cheng: Yes, yes, yes.

Chan: Right, okay. So, what would be the trend now? I mean, since you mentioned over the last 50 years, there has been also steady increases, even in numbers. What would be the trend amongst certain groups in the community? Would you say more of the younger groups or even the elderly, males or females? Any sort of interesting figures you can share with us?

Cheng: Yeah, from number of deaths caused by suicide, we see that it's about 40 percent of these death cases are elderly. So, elderly is one of the very high-risk group and, I would say, somehow neglected because we don't quite focus on the death of older people. But we also see that for the age group of 10 to 19, our youngsters, our teenagers, this group, the trend of suicide is growing and growing.

Chan: What would be any specific risk factors for this young group? Because 10 to 19 too many are very teenagers, they're very young, I'm sure unlikely to be facing any financial crisis or any economic factors. So, what would be the most common thing that you have experienced and what are the risk factors?

Cheng: Well, we have always been saying that, I mean the whole society knows our children are facing a lot of pressure due to their education, examinations. But from our figures, a lot of them are actually calling to identify problems and issue with the family, the parents. I mean parent and child relationship as well as living with them together. These are the most recent reasons for their suicide.

Samaritans' role

Chan: Just wondering, for someone who have never made this phone call or never contacted any of your colleagues or the other two organizations, what do they expect on the first call … well, they would expect? How much can they tell them how much privacy will be sort of safeguarded for them?

Cheng: Yeah, I think the first thing they can expect is someone to talk to. At least we are always there. We are 24 hours and seven days per week. We work all year round. And the first thing that they would be able to reach our trained volunteers. And our volunteers are very compassionate and they do care for each and every one of our callers. So, they can expect, they talk to them, they can share their issues. They can even sometimes we heard calls just crying.

Chan: Really?

Cheng: Yeah. And afterwards, after a few, what we call proactive listening, we give them reactions, responses, sentence, or just one or two words, let them know we are there. And somehow they would start talking.

Chan: I see.

Cheng: Yeah.

Chan: David, yeah. Let's go for a short break now. We'll be right back with more Straight Talk.

What we can do

Chan: Welcome back to Straight Talk. We continue our conversation with David Cheng on how our community can support those around us in crisis. So, David, in the first half, I think you have given us a very, I would say, a strong wake-up call that over a thousand persons lost their lives on average and a lot of people are lonely and they need people to give them a hand, especially the elderly population, and that there is an increasing trend for the younger generation.

So, let's be more practical now. How can we, like the viewers and myself, how can we identify those people that really need your help? How do we know? Sometimes when you see someone crying, we say, oh, let them cry, they'll be alright after a while. And then we will just leave them and we will just go off for a walk. What would you suggest us to do? What are the most important signs that we must pick up?

Cheng: Yeah, I think it's much more easier for closer persons, for example friends, the family members or parents, they can observe the change in behavior. For example, a very talkative person might suddenly silence up.

Chan: I see.

Cheng: Or a person who likes to eat a lot, the appetite suddenly change, or close themselves in the room or do this kind of sudden changes things in their living habit.

Chan: I see.

Cheng: That might be a sign. And also tearing without reason. Sometimes they just find themselves all alone. It's better for them. Those are the signs.

Chan: I see. So, I mean, all of us are not being trained. How can we provide the first meaningful support to them then?

Cheng: The first, very simple thing anyone can do is be there. Just stay beside them, listen to them, talk to them. Don't let them be all alone. They might need some time, they might need a little bit of time reflecting, but don't let them be all day, just like that.

Chan: I see. Let me ask you an even more direct question now: what if we are the person ourselves who are actually the ones in crisis? Any signs that we will pick up apart from the ones you mentioned? And when do we know that we need to get professional help? Because usually a lot of adults, they may have carried a stigma of not being strong, you're very weak and you will keep everything within yourself. What do you tell our viewers on that?

Cheng: The first thing I think for depression is for a person is that he or she might lose any interest in anything. So, that is the first sign we might think if we are losing interest to anything – that is the first sign. So, if we find ourselves not happy or sad or depressed, obviously I would say the first thing to do is to call us. Call our hotline. You might want to speak to somebody that don't know about you.

Chan: I see.

Cheng: Because you sometimes don't want your family to be worrying. You don't want your friends, you don't want to bother them. Then our hotline is the most suitable for you.

Chan: Right. And assume that there's no cost involved.

Cheng: No.

Chan: You don't have to pay anything. It's free?

Cheng: Yeah, it's free of charge, all free. And you might want to start writing something. Write down your thoughts. That is a way to release. You might want to, now we all have mobile phones. You might want to record what you think, record your sayings. If you don't want to write, that is kind of release. And then if the suicide ideations is strong, you might want to even call the ambulance to let you get into the hospital immediately.

Prevention and education

Chan: Oh, I see. That's a good idea, isn't it? If that happens. Let's come out of more specific personal issues than to the community as a whole. Would you say that it is a community responsibility in terms of suicide prevention and how can we, being part of the community and especially like schools, play a meaningful part?

Cheng: Yeah, I think community involvement is very important. Although we have three organizations in Hong Kong working for suicide prevention, it's too big, too enormous a task to do with everybody. So, education in the school for mental health, for suicide prevention is very important. Sometimes we get into the schools to talk to children, to talk to students as well as their parents and teachers.

Chan: I read that the government introduced a three-tier emergency scheme a few years ago to identify those who are high-risk secondary school students. Has this been effective?

Cheng: Well, I would say it had some effect, but I would call for the government to expand and increase the number of organizations to help. For example, the three suicide prevention agencies in Hong Kong. Because not each student needs very professional psychological treatment of those provided by the psychologists, sometimes they just need counseling. They need case follow-up. That is what we do.

Chan: And recently one of our ExCo members, Lam Jing-choi, called for prevention support measures to be expanded to all young people, not to those just highest risk. Do you think this is part of a side effect of the social media nowadays that's so widely engaged by the whole community?

Cheng: Well, I would say it does let us, as a human being, know about death, negative feelings – those things in a younger age. And we thought of those. But if with more education, I think that could be changed into a better situation, though. For example, although you are reaching this kind of information on the internet, with proper education from the schools, from the parents, these negative feelings, negative visions on the internet can be analyzed by our younger generation.

Chan: I see. When you're talking about all this prevention campaign and all these, you have all professional colleagues being trained. And you just told me the one who are at the Samaritans Befrienders Hong Kong, are on a volunteer basis.

Cheng: Yep.

Chan: Is there a shortage of funding? I have to ask.

Cheng: Funding is always short.

Chan: Right.

Cheng: Yeah, because there are so many people outside that we want to help. Say, we are dealing with about 1,500 cases. I mean, they come to us and we do case management, we do follow-up, we do counseling for six to eight.

Chan: Does the government provide with the funding?

Cheng: They do provide us about half of our funding. And the other half is from the community. Yeah, the other half is from our fundraising and other donors, things like that. But still …

Chan: So, since you're on the show tonight, would you like to speak to the viewers? How can they support you and the other organizations?

Cheng: Sure. I think the most important thing is … for one of the very important thing is you help people around yourself first. And then you would know how hard it would be.

Chan: I see.

Cheng: And then we always welcome donation.

Chan: Right, okay. I mean, I'm sure the viewers and I were all very shocked by a recent tragic parent-child suicide case of a 48-year-old social worker herself and her 12-year-old daughter right the same day. This has been a very sort of news of Hong Kong that we try not to play up, but then we all know about it. And looks like there's a huge pressure from the, maybe the schooling, maybe a breakdown in communication between the parent and child. Is there anything we can do on the cases like this?

Cheng: Well, I think at the time being, we already have a very sophisticated structure of dealing with all these cases. But it's not yet enough. There are still rooms to improve. For example, would there be somebody to follow up with the case immediately and say for two or three days afterwards, 24 hours? That could be, always can be such kind of improvement.

Chan: I think what you said earlier in the first half, I remember, is to be there.

Cheng: Yeah, be there.

Chan: Be there. I think this is the best thing anyone can do.

Cheng: Yeah. And also, I think how to prevent these cases from happening is more important. How can we get into the schools, educate them, educate the parents and even educate the adults who are responsible for their families to deal with their own stress? That is even more important.

Chan: I think one area we will just touch on before the end of the show is that we have a lot of carers for the elderly. So, we must also look after the carers as well. For example, if there's an elderly couple, one of them has more medical issues, the other one's under constant stress; they could be at the risk as well.

Cheng: Yes, yes. Elderly people as well as their carers. So, you see, we have so many categories of people that we have to educate, train and treat. So, how can funding be enough?

Chan: Yeah, we hear you loud and clear. We have to leave it there for now, and thank you, David, for sharing your insights with us. As we consider how we can better support those in crisis, perhaps it begins with creating a community where people feel safe to speak openly and seek help, and where family and friends know how to offer support. If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress, reaching out can be the first important step towards finding help and hope.

Thank you for joining us on Straight Talk. I'm Eugene Chan, and see you next week.