{"id":702,"date":"2024-09-27T08:28:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T08:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/?p=702"},"modified":"2024-10-02T12:39:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T12:39:05","slug":"district-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei-committee-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/?p=702","title":{"rendered":"District Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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At Rotary<\/mark><\/strong>, we are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, allowing everyone\u2019s voice to be heard, and providing equitable opportunities for fellowship, service and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Connecting the Dots between DEI and Mental Health<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as \u201ca state of complete physical, mental <\/em>and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\u201d\u00a0 Mental health remains stigmatised globally, misunderstood, and unequally treated or prevented compared to other illnesses in society.\u00a0 \u201cProgress in mental health in a population cannot be made without tackling the issues of stigma and discrimination.\u00a0 To curb these is a challenge to the entire society, not just patients and professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Research reports that 60% of Hong Kong adults suffer from poor mental wellbeing, with 1 in 7 developing common mental disorders in their lifetime, yet 74% DO NOT seek any professional help.\u00a0 Among Hong Kong workers, depression and anxiety disorders are 2.5 times the global average, and 56% have witnessed mental health issues handled inappropriately in the workplace.\u00a0 Meanwhile, surveys indicate 71% unwilling to live with mental health sufferers, with 1 in 3 professing to even end friendships.\u00a0 With such lack of understanding, and social stigma it is not surprising that many continue to suffer in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cultural and societal attitudes towards mental illnesses perpetuate discouraging and erroneous attitudes, preventing sufferers from seeking help or speaking about their condition.\u00a0 Furthermore, over half believe they will be penalised for speaking about their challenges or experience stigma for fear of being judged or misunderstood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a society, we must raise awareness of mental disorders, dispel myths and misconceptions, and support those who need it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWHY DEI MATTERS?\u201d SERIES<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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World Mental Health Day (10 October)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Observed annually on 10 October, World Mental Health Day was founded by the World Federation for Mental Health in 1992 and supported by the WHO with the aim to raise awareness of mental health issues worldwide and to mobilise efforts globally with the collaboration of government and civil societies in support of mental health initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Campaign 2024 is, “it\u2019s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace,” highlighting the importance of addressing mental health and wellbeing in the professional settings for the benefit of people, organisations, and communities, where mental health is prioritised, protected and promoted.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Work can have a tremendous impact on our mental health. It can boost our self-esteem, give us a sense of purpose and provide us opportunities to network and socialise. On the other hand, it can also be a source of stress, anxiety, diminish our self-worth and contribute mental health issues. Since most adults spend the majority of their lives working, it is vitally important that our workplace supports our mental health and give us the tools to reduce the negative impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some examples include providing staff training on mental health, confronting\u00a0 discrimination and bullying, and conducting open conversations about mental health issues.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Hong Kong Mental Health Landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mental health is a major prevailing issue among the local population in Hong Kong. Government commissioned studies by CUHK & HKU found that, 24.4.% children and adolescents experienced at least one mental health issue in the past year, with half of them having two or more co-morbid disorders. Yet, almost half their caregivers were unwilling to seek professional assistance, citing fear of stigma or ignorance of availability of support.\u00a0 Alarmingly, over 25% of youths aged 15-24 reported suicidal behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, about one-fifth of the surveyed elderly population aged 60 or above suffered from mid neurocognitive impairment with 70% of those in residential care homes diagnosed with dementia.  Meanwhile, caregivers themselves were often found to suffer from untreated mental health issues such as anxiety of depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase prevalence of mental disorders results in an increase demand for psychiatric services, while the median wait times for urgent and semi-urgent new cases remain at one week and four weeks respectively, the wait times for \u201cstable\u201d causes has increased from 27 weeks in 2019 to 44 weeks in 20024.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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In the 2003 Chief Executive\u2019s policy address, ten measures were announced to promote and support mental health which includes prevention, early identification, early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation.\u00a0 Examples, include expedited case management, mental health support training for various community teams, training for social workers, and mental health literacy kit for student awareness.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rotary District DEI Committee will be hosting our District DEI Seminar on 2 November 2024 <\/strong>at Club Lusitano, 27\/F, 16 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong from 10 am to 3.30 pm\u00a0 This year\u2019s seminar theme is \u201cChange Your Mindset.\u00a0 Create a Sense of Belonging\u201d.\u00a0 We welcome Club Presidents, Club DEI Directors\/Committee Chairs, Rotarians and Rotaractors who are interested in learning more about DEI issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Appointment of Club DEI Director\/ Committee Chair<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Please provide us with contact details of Club DEI Director\/ Committee Chairs for ease of communication and information update with District DEI team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/forms.gle\/t93z9osvJv6iGDL2A<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Rotary, we are committed to treating everyone with d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2024-october"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dg-newsletter2425.rid3450.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}