Media

From 'Good Separation" to "Good Life" Memorial Booklet to help bereaved

30 Mar 2009

 

The grave sweeping and other memorial traditions during Ching Ming Festival offers opportunity for us to memorize our deceased loved ones. Death is inevitable part of life, however, we do not talk about death nor do we prepare for it. Misconceptions that they should forget their beloved ones or to let go of the memories may lead to greater stress on the bereaved. Establishing a healthy mode of spiritual or emotional connection with the deceased forms part of the normal grief process and would be able to motivate the bereaved to reinvest in life.

Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, An Empowerment Network for Adjustment to Bereavement and Loss in End-of-life (ENABLE) established by the Centre on Behavioral Health, HKU, is launching a memorial book "Thinking of you - A memorial book" to guide the bereaved through healthy grievance process. By answering questions such as "You are happy when...", "The silliest thing you have done is ...", "You overcome adversity by ..." and "We share some similarities...", readers would be able to go through healthy grieving process. Free copies of "Thinking of you - A memorial book" can be obtained in designated cemeteries and over 220 social welfare agencies.

The Centre of Behavior Health will be introducing details of the booklet with an interviewee sharing her experience of overcoming the bereavement at the press conference. Along with the book introduction, a first-of-its-kind study on attitude of youth towards ancestor worship is released.

Media are cordially invited to cover the event, details are:
Date:              March 31, 2009 (Tuesday)
Time:             2:30pm
Venue:           Room 218, Convocation Room, Main Building, HKU

About the Project ENABLE:
The Centre on Behavioral Health (CBH) of the University of Hong Kong has established an Empowerment Network for Adjustment to Bereavement and Loss in End-of-life (ENABLE), a project funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.  Through a societal-wide campaign which serves to educate the general public on effective death preparation as well as to promote enhanced adjustment to bereavement and loss, we believe that life can become much more beautiful and fulfilling and death can be peaceful and at the same time manifest a blissful sense of life completion.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Trinni Choy, Assistant Director of External Relations (Tel: 2859 2606/Mobile:9464 3431/E-mail:pychoy@hku.hk) or Ms Joanne Yung, Manager (Media), External Relations Office, HKU (Tel: 2859 2600/E-mail:hkumedia@hku.hk)