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Youth Centres

Rejuvenated to meet the needs of teens

By Linda Lam

When Lau Tsan Sum tells her friends that she will spend the rest of her after-school time at the nearest youth centre, they simply knit their brows.

“They wonder why I spend a good day in such a dull place instead of sneaking out with them to the malls. They have no interest in youth centres. They even don't know where the nearest centre is,” said Ms. Lau, a 16-year-old fifth-former.

Many youth social workers notice that the majority of Hong Kong teenagers do not have any interest in youth centres.

Since the 1990s, the non-profit-making youth service agencies have been reforming themselves, to change the perception that visiting a youth centre is an out-of-fashion idea.

The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups even adopted a new name Youth S.P.O.Ts for their youth centres. S.P.O.Ts means to provide youngsters with a S pace for P articipation, O pportunities and T raining. They want the teenagers to explore more and add value to themselves right here in the centres.

The government has also set up a subsidy scheme for youth service agencies to modernize their centres. When the first modernised youth centre opened in Tsueng Kwan O in 1998, the government allocated $29.77 million from the Lotteries Fund to let the reform go on.

Apart from the traditional chess games and other forms of recreation, new facilities such as desktop computers, plasma televisions and cosy sofas can now be seen in centers like Shau Ki Wan Youth S.P.O.T.

Brightly painted walls and colourful furniture convey a sense of youthful vitality. A coffee corner with new computers provides a comfortable environment for the visitors to have refreshment and do net-surfing.

Poon Chun Kit, a 33-year-old social worker, said, “Upgrading the hardware is the first step in attracting youth to come to the centres. In order to encourage them to stay longer, we have to improve the centre activities.”

With his nine years of experience in social work, he commented that the focus of the service has shifted from recreation to fostering personal growth.

“Nowadays youth centres provide diversified services to take care of different aspects of youth growth. Services range from counseling to education and training,” Mr. Poon said.

Shau Ki Wan Youth S.P.O.T has a Career Zone, where teenagers can find career leaflets and seek advice from Career Counselors. In the Health Zone, there are display boards highlighting the neglected aspects of mental and physical health.

To compete with other popular entertainment that target young people, like karaoke and cinema, new elements has been added in the youth services.

More and more centres have brought in a new counseling method called ABC, which stands for Adventure-Based Counseling .

Through command task games and challenging outdoor activities such as expeditions, teenagers gradually build up their confidence and explore themselves and their career prospects.

Enthusiastic youngsters are also encouraged to get teaching licenses in the ABC activities, such as rock-climbing, expedition and canoeing.

Another new element is the idea of “Little Entrepreneurs”. Some youth centres provide space for teenagers to run little businesses, such as managing a cafe. This experience is helpful especially for those who have withdrawn from school early.

Professor Ngai Ngan Pun, in the Department of Social Work at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out that the emphasis of youth centres is now on the guidance and counseling of youth personal growth.

He said, “The centres are very different from the ones in the sixties. After the Kowloon Riot in 1966, the Government set up youth centres to prevent youth deviance. The main objective was social control.”

Nonetheless, later studies on the utilization of youth centres advised the government to provide a more comprehensive support to the young people.

“That was why the Government put forward the Integrated Team Model in the nineties.”

The new model drived many youth centers to start providing integrated service, no longer specialized in just outreach or just education.

Many centres started to recruit a team of social workers with different expertise. Down to the pragmatics level, the new model is welcomed by social workers.

Mr. Poon said, “Outreach social workers and school social workers are now working in the same centre, so they can work hand in hand with each other. This facilitates case-sharing and saves a lot of paper work.”

Prof. Ngai commented that the new model has also contributed a lot to build a professional image for youth centres.

He said, “In the past, people thought that only problematic kids would go to youth centres. Nowadays, youth centres and local schools can join hands in organizing programmes, like social services and leadership training schemes with schools.”

Many teenagers join the activities offered by the centres through their schools. It helped to build up a good impression for the centres. The students became frequent centre users and brought their friends to the centres later on.

Wong Tat Wa, 22, a final-year student studying at the City University of Hong Kong, is an active participant in centre activities.

After he had joined a school leadership training camp co-organized with a youth centre, he developed an interest in the centre activities.

He said, “I had never imagined these activities would help me to discover my leadership potential, but they did.”

Lau Tsan Sum certainly shared the same feeling.

“It is a place where you can get more than you ever could in any karaoke lounge or arcade game station. You will get a better self, new friends and an experience which can not be obtained at school,” Ms. Lau said, smiling.

Teenagers playing traditional chess game at the centre. Linda Lam