MU Connect issue 3 (page 18 to 19)

In addition to organising service-learning programmes throughout the year, the Student Affairs Office (SAO) also provides students with opportunities to work in NGOs for longer periods during the summer. In this second year of running the NGO summer placement programme, the SAO arranged diverse work for 34 HKMU students in 12 NGOs.

One of the students, Derrick Hui Kwan-kei, was placed in the Sovereign Art Foundation, an organisation running expressive arts programmes for underprivileged and SEN (special educational needs) children. The job opening was originally a marketing position, but knowing that Derrick was a student in Psychology and Mental Health, his supervisor reallocated the work and gave him the opportunity to design activities for children and parents under COVID-19. This first-time experience of working with an art therapist was inspiring for Derrick. 'In counselling, we're trained to reflect on clients' negative emotions. But the approach of art therapy is different — it tends to look for positive vocabulary of expression,' he says.

For Derrick, the internship allowed him to learn about working in the psychology field as well as work in general. 'I learnt to judge when to seek help and when to solve a problem myself,' he explains. 'For example, the art therapist wouldn't mind being asked more questions — because there's little room for mistakes in a therapy session.'

One of the students, Derrick Hui Kwan-kei, was placed in the Sovereign Art Foundation, an organisation running expressive arts programmes for underprivileged and SEN (special educational needs) children. The job opening was originally a marketing position, but knowing that Derrick was a student in Psychology and Mental Health, his supervisor reallocated the work and gave him the opportunity to design activities for children and parents under COVID-19. This first-time experience of working with an art therapist was inspiring for Derrick. 'In counselling, we're trained to reflect on clients' negative emotions. But the approach of art therapy is different — it tends to look for positive vocabulary of expression,' he says. For Derrick, the internship allowed him to learn about working in the psychology field as well as work in general. 'I learnt to judge when to seek help and when to solve a problem myself,' he explains. 'For example, the art therapist wouldn't mind being asked more questions — because there's little room for mistakes in a therapy session.'

Working in NGOs is not just about working with clients directly. There are plenty of ways to participate in social services. Enson Lo Pak-hei, who also landed a marketing position, experienced supporting the publicity department of the Endless Care Services of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals with his expertise in Creative Advertising and Media Design. 'I'd studied theories on social media advertising, but it was during the internship that I was actually given a real Facebook page to manage and a real budget to work with while considering how to place ads,' Enson speaks with great excitement. 'We wanted to boost a post on the 360-degree virtual tour of an exhibition exploring life, and our target audience were young people interested in playing simulation games,' he explains. 'I came up with the idea of writing the copy in gaming language. The ad received more than 10,000 impressions at quite a low cost.' The experience gave Enson a tremendous sense of satisfaction.