Media

Press conference on “Reweaving Grief: Innovative Bereavement Care”

02 Dec 2016

 

The number of deaths in Hong Kong is rising, thus there are growing numbers of bereaved persons. Bereavement affects individuals and families in many different ways. In particular, bereaved persons struggle with the belongings left by the deceased. Keeping the belongings symbolizes the connections with the deceased, yet it reminds them about the loss.

Recently, the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), in collaboration with the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs), introduced the Project “Reweaving Grief: Innovative Bereavement Care”, a one-year pilot project funded by Knowledge Exchange (KE) Funding Scheme of HKU. It aims at supporting bereaved persons through the transformation of clothing of the deceased into new products. The reweaving concept originated from the Woven Memories initiative in Australia. The project in Hong Kong adds another element by involving persons with disabilities in the production of the transformed product which fosters integration and flourishing of persons with disabilities at the same time.

We are honored to have Ms. Mary Burgess, the Project Director of Woven Memories to share the reweaving experience in Australia at the Press Conference. The Principal Investigator of the project, Dr. Amy Chow, will explain the theoretical background and conceptualization and social workers from TWGHs will introduce the implementation and their experiences with the pilot cases. Additionally, the bereaved service user and the weaver of the Project will share their feelings and experience regarding this service.

Media representatives are invited to join the event with details as follows:

Date:   6 December 2016 (Tuesday)
Time:  10:00 am
Venue: Social Sciences Chamber, 11/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Speakers:
Ms. Mary Burgess, Project Director, Woven Memories, Australia
Dr. Amy Chow, Associate Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU
Ms. Gallery Choi, Social Worker, Embracing the Setting Sun Project, TWGHs
Ms. Tsang Wing Yan, Programme Worker, i-dArt, TWGHs
Ms Cheung, Service User, Reweaving Grief: Innovative Bereavement Care
Ms. Leung, Weaver, Reweaving Grief: Innovative Bereavement Care

For media enquiries, please contact
- Ms. Vivian Kan, Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU (Tel: 39175527; Email: stevian@hku.hk)
- Ms. Rhea Leung, Communications and Public Affairs Office (Tel: 2857 8555; email: rhea.leung@hku.hk)