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Sixty-eight social workers and peer counsellors from non-governmental organisations gathered at the Hong Kong Baptist University today (September 9) to celebrate their completion of the first certificate course in drug treatment and rehabilitation initiated by the Narcotics Division, Security Bureau.
The School of Continuing Education of the Hong Kong Baptist University was commissioned by the Narcotics Division to run the course which lasted for six months. Participants took core modules on the pharmacology of psychotropic substances and narcotic drugs, related legislation, theories of addiction and drug treatment and rehabilitation.
Students also attended streamed modules tailor-made for social workers and peer counsellors respectively. The modules were designed to sharpen the skills of social workers in counselling and also in managing treatment and rehabilitation centres.
For peer counsellors, the streamed modules aimed at enhancing their counselling skills through effective management of their own emotions and thorough understanding of their role as counsellors.
"The structured training provided a good opportunity for participants to better equip themselves with the latest drug information and means of rehabilitation," Ms Sally Wong, Commissioner for Narcotics (Designate) said at the graduation ceremony today. "They also benefited very much from sharing experience and ideas and learned a lot from their peers."
"I hope that the participants would continue to upgrade themselves, develop their potentials further and apply their newly learnt knowledge in their daily work to help those in need," Ms Wong said.
She also commended the hard work of the participants for raising the overall service standards of the treatment and rehabilitation service in Hong Kong.
On behalf of the Narcotics Division, Ms Wong and Chairman of the Advisory Group on Professional Training for Anti-drug Workers, Dr Lam Kui-chun, presented awards to six outstanding students from the two streams in recognition of their excellent performance. These students are in-service social workers and peer counsellors from the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals CROSS Centre, Caritas HUGS Centre, Wu Oi Christian Centre and The Friends of Scouting Jockey Club Long Ping Service Centre for Children and Youth.
The certificate course was organised in response to the views expressed by anti-drug workers. It was also one of the recommendations in The Third Three-year Plan on Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong. 27 social workers and 41 peer counsellors were awarded with certificates today.
In view of the fast-changing drug abuse trend, it is crucial for frontline anti-drug workers to be continuously updated on new treatment and rehabilitation approaches. Through regular and systematic training, anti-drug workers can acquire more knowledge and skills in handling substance abusers, and gain new ideas and perspectives to improve service delivery.
Ends/Saturday, September 9, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:15
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