‘Treated like animals’: traumatised pilots can’t seek mental health counselling post-pandemic without risk of being grounded

‘In Hong Kong, they put cable ties on the bus [door handles] to and from the hotel … Everyone was borderline depressed,’ says a pilot based in the city Hong Kong is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic and there is a rush to welcome visitors – including through the Hello, Hong Kong campaign. But take a moment to consider…

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  • ‘It’s hard to explain cancer to a child’

    In 2019 Massimo Gavina learned he had stage 4 cancer. ‘I don’t want to die before I see my child getting a bit older. I still want to do things,’ he says In November 2019, Massimo Gavina woke up in the Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, home he shares with his wife and son and turned…

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  • ‘A huge, caring humanitarian movement’

    Jeff Rotmeyer grew up in Canada, excelled at sports as a child, then moved to teach English in Korea, where he met his wife, who moved with him to Hong Kong I was born in Surrey, outside Vancouver, in Canada, in 1977, and am an only child. My dad was born in Holland and came…

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  • Short film looks at loneliness in isolation

    When Yuyu Kitamura returned to Hong Kong from New York, she struggled with how lonely she felt during her two weeks of hotel quarantine. She made and starred in ‘Invited In’ to highlight the anxiety and fears many of today’s young people face while socialising online during Covid-19 Before 23-year-old Yuyu Kitamura returned to Hong…

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  • New app for help with anxiety, stress or burnout

    Workplace stress was already on the rise, and the pandemic made it worse. Yet only 5 per cent of big companies’ staff use in-house mental health assistance Two women have created an app for employers that will instead let staff consult outside therapists in privacy. It will launch in Hong Kong, Singapore and France Terry…

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  • Hong Kong Ballet’s artistic director Septime Webre

    Septime Webre speaks to Kate Whitehead about growing up in the Bahamas and turning his back on law for dance. The new father, artistic director of the Hong Kong Ballet since 2017, is thankful for being able to spend time with his family during the pandemic The seventh son: I’m the seventh son in a family…

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  • How a mother built resilience after accident left her son disabled, and her psychological journey through pain and guilt

    After Jennifer Bovard Kende’s son Ben suffered a devastating rugby accident in 2010, she went through her own post-traumatic stress and blamed herself When her 18-year-old son Ben suffered a devastating accident playing rugby for Hong Kong in Bangkok, Thailand in 2010, Jennifer Bovard Kende went through a parent’s worst nightmare: he was left quadriplegic.This…

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  • Self-care key to mental well-being

    Clinical psychologist Ella Tsang struggled with depression and anxiety in her teens and saw a number of therapists As we mark World Mental Health Day on October 10, clinical psychologist Ella Tsang, who struggled with anxiety and depression in her teens and early 20s, hopes more people will take the time for self-care. “In Asia…

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  • Kumi kidnapped as a kid, found freedom on Lamma

    The founder of Hong Kong’s Drum Jam tells Kate Whitehead about growing up in a controlling home and realising her creative potential in New York For 18 years she ran a monthly drumming group outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as part of the regular Tom Lee Music Carnival Spirited away: I was born in Warabi…

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  • What Really Happened to Flight MH370?

    Former FCC President Florence de Changy’s trenchant investigations point to a secret cargo, an abortive hijack and an insidious cover-up. By Kate Whitehead The Correspondent Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board. Halfway across the Gulf of Thailand, the Boeing 777-200ER vanished from air traffic…

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  • A high intensity workout without the effort

    Former jockey turned triathlete and ultramarathon runner Jo Lodder, 50, broke his collarbone in a fall, and was frustrated at how slowly it was mending. He tried the Vasper System, based on Nasa spacesuit cooling, which applies liquid cooling and compression to your muscles, and was amazed with the results Jo Lodder was a professional…

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