What is Personal Counseling?

Personal counseling provides you an opportunity to share with a caring professional who can walk through your experience, bring you objectivity and guidance, and assist you to approach concerns or problems with more adaptive coping strategies.   With empathetic and genuine support, we lead you to see a concern or problem in a new way, thus feeling more able to face it constructively.

The experience of counseling may begin with your sharing of a wide range of personal concerns.   Our Counselor will understand and conceptualize your concerns or problems in evidence-based practice, and think about how we may pursue the counseling goals or treatment plans in subsequent counseling sessions.   The aim is to keep counseling as effective and efficient as possible.

We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.

Virginia Satir

  • Come and share with us

  • New University Life/Adjustment
  • Academic Study
  • Social Adjustment
  • Emotional Adjustment
  • Behavioral Concerns
  • Personal Growth and Development
  • Psychological Disorders
  • Family
  • Psychosexual Adjustment

Mood and Stress Assessment (DASS)

CHECK YOUR MOOD NOW

 

DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) is an easy-to-administer psychological assessment developed by researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia.  The DASS has 3 subscales to assess different aspects:

 

 

Depression

 

The Depression Scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest / involvement, anhedonia and inertia.

Anxiety

 

The Anxiety Scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety and subjective experience of anxious affect.

Stress

 

The Stress Scale assesses levels of non-chronic arousal through difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient.

 

 

If you would like to understand your emotional state over the past week, you are advised to do this 21-item assessment within 5 minutes.  The results of this assessment will only be used for research purposes and counseling service planning.   All information will be kept strictly confidential.

Make An Appointment

 

To request counseling appointment, you may make an online reservation, contact the Counseling and Wellness Center in person, by phone or email.  Currently, our online appointment system allows two weeks’ advance reservation.  After making an online appointment or an initial contact with us, you will receive a confirmation email with details including appointment date, time and name of your Counselor.  You will then be invited to complete a set of pre-counseling forms including personal counseling consent form and DSM-5 self-rated cross-cutting symptom measure at the time before meeting with your Counselor in our Center.  If you are unable to attend the counseling session reserved, please let us know as quickly as possible so that the time slot can be reserved for other students in counseling needs.  All personal information and details shared and discussed in all counseling or therapy sessions are strictly confidential.

 

Please be aware that we are not a top emergency service.  If you feel the situation is life-threatening or at immediate risk, or you lack a sense of self-control, personal responsibility and safety, please get help from the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of the nearest hospital as soon as possible.  If you feel the situation is an emergency crisis rather than urgent, please contact the police force to ask for immediate support.  A talking therapeutic session could be most helpful and effective when the immediate crisis is over for collaborative reflection and exploration.

 

 

MEET THE PROFESSIONAL TEAM
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

Emergency Contacts

When Safety is of Immediate Concern

HKUST Security Office

(On campus - report of top emergencies)

    (852) 2358 8999

Hong Kong Police Force (Off campus)

     (852) 999

Nearest Hospitals

- Tseung Kwan O Hospital (Hang Hau)

     (852) 2208 0111

- United Christian Hospital (Kwun Tong)

     (852) 2379 9611

- Prince of Wales Hospital (Shatin)

     (852) 3505 2211

- Kowloon Hospital (Mongkok)

     (852) 3129 7111

 

 

Seek Help During Office Hours

Counseling and Wellness Center

Room 5003, Academic Building (via Lift 3)

Email: counsel@ust.hk

Opening hours:

Mon - Fri

8:45 am - 12:45 pm

2:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Make Online Appointment with Student Counselor

     (852) 2358 6696

If you need Counseling or Emotional Support Outside Office Hours

24/7 HEARing

(A 24-hour helpline exclusively for all HKUST students.  Counselors are from Christian Family Service Centre.)

     (852) 8208 2688

Suicide Prevention Services

     (852) 2382 0000

Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre

     (852) 18288

CREASE Crisis Centre

     (852) 18281

The Samaritans (Multi-Lingual)

     (852) 2896 0000

The Samaritans Befrienders Hong Kong (Cantonese)

     (852) 2389 2222

Why are counseling services private and confidential?

When students decide to meet with a counselor, they need sufficient emotional support to manage their life adversities and mental health concerns. A student may be going through stressful experiences, traumatic life events, fear of judgement and an emotional roller coaster ride of mental health symptoms. They may feel embarrassed, vulnerable or a sense of shame, and may be reluctant to share their private feelings and secrets if they do not feel safe and comfortable in the counseling environment. It is of utmost importance for a counselor to gain trust from a student and build rapport with them to ensure the effectiveness of counseling/psychotherapy. Sometimes, the discussion may involve substance abuse, sexual activity, and concerns about other behaviors that might violate the student conduct code.

Counseling/psychotherapy is considered confidential to protect students’ personal experiences and the therapeutic relationship. Nevertheless, there are exceptions that confidentiality would not be upheld, particularly if the counselor is significantly concerned about the safety of student or someone else that the student is talking about.