The purpose of this study was to trace the development of the counseling movement in Hong Kong from its beginning to the present and to examine future directions confronting those who work in the counseling field in Hong Kong.
Originating from social unrest in 1966 and 1967, the counseling movement began as an attempt to meet the society's developmental needs of self-expression and direction. Although not a formal program, the first known counseling service in Hong Kong was offered by Ben Fong in 1967 at the Yang Memorial Social Service Center. In 1969 the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups established the first formal counseling service in Hong Kong.
Institutions of higher education and foreigners played a major role in the development of early counseling services in Hong Kong. In 197 0, Peter Whyte, an Australian, organized a counseling service at the University Hong Kong. In 1971, Ken Locke, an American, established a counseling service at the Hong Kong Baptist College. Counseling services grew rapidly in the early 1970s, and a 1975 survey identified fifty-five agencies which reported providing counseling services.
In the mid-1970s, helping professionals were struggling with the issue of "What is counseling?" A significant developmental step was the establishment of a master's degree program in counseling at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1977. The first professional counseling organization, the Association of Psychological and Educational Counselors of Asia-Hong Kong Branch, was organized in 1979 and the first counseling journal was published in 1980. In 1984, the Education Department of the Hong Kong Government established guidance services in secondary schools.
The challenge for the counselors of Hong Kong in the 1990s relates to two foreseeable changes in the Hong Kong community, the Chinese recovery of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 and the aging of the population.
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
