Inspire2gether
大學及學院青年會國際青年會議 2023
(Only available in English)
~ INSPIRE TOGETHER, SERVE TOGETHER, & CREATE A BETTER COMMUNITY TOGETHER! ~
THEME: Inspire2gether: Community Wellbeing in Post-pandemic Era
BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced all walks of life, creating more needs from social, mental and physical perspectives. From recent research, the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that COVID-19 has significantly impacted mental health issues worldwide, increasing 25% of prevalence in anxiety and depression. The pandemic has changed various aspects of our lives. Lack of outdoor activities, impact on sleeping time and quality, and social distancing have affected youths’ mental wellbeing. Notably, online classes and virtual campus life have significantly reduced students’ opportunities to develop interpersonal skills, leading to social anxiety. Moreover, according to some studies in Hong Kong, an increasing number of students reported that their mental health had deteriorated during the pandemic years. In addition, the younger generation’s ways of help-seeking have shifted to more covert patterns, such as posting their status on social media instead of proactively reaching out to family, friends or professionals, leading to certain levels of distress. Neglecting such issues can be a red flag for another mental health “pandemic”.
To celebrate University & College YMCA’s 20th Anniversary, the Conference will gather local and overseas youth delegates from different YMCAs to discuss and get inspired on how young people should react to the change in community wellbeing after the pandemic. Through the Conference, we hope to explore the challenges that our communities are facing from the social, psychological and physical perspectives so that we can tackle them by providing more timely and fresh services to serve the community; and promote community wellbeing, in echo with Vision 2030 adopted by the World YMCA in 2022.
OBJECTIVES
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To inspire young people around the world to actively respond to youth societal needs in the post COVID-19 era and contribute to the communities with innovative and creative solutions; and
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To provide a multicultural platform to facilitate communication and sharing of experiences in responding to the improvement of community wellbeing.
