iACT® Programme - Host Organisations
iACT® Programme – Host organisation sign up
Mind HK is pleased to announce its Improving Access to Community Therapies (iACT®) Programme is now open for host organisation sign ups. The iACT® programme is a continuation of Mind HK’s previous Youth Wellbeing Practitioner (YWP) programme and Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) pilot programmes, where we train practitioners to deliver early mental health support to individuals aged 12-65.
Thanks to the support of MINDSET, Jardine Matheson Group’s charity, 50 practitioners will be trained in the upcoming cohort to deliver early, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based mental health support to individuals experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress (including anxiety and depression). These practitioners will be placed at various settings in the local community to support individuals in need.
We are now inviting interested organisations to sign up and become a host organisation to offer a precious 9-month placement opportunity for these practitioners-in-training, so as to provide mental health support to your community.
Please email [email protected] if you have any enquiries about the programme.
Key Information:
Cost to host organisations: FREE
Programme placement date: September 2024 – June 2025, 2-3 days per week.
Benefits of becoming an host organisation:
- Free of charge mental health support for host organisations and their clients. (Practitioners training and supervision is fully funded by our programme sponsors.)
- Implement early intervention to prevent mental health problems and emotional distress from worsening.
- Expand your service or reduce your service waiting time by providing cost-efficient low-intensity therapies for youth or adults with mild to moderate depression and anxiety.
- Post-placement: host organisations may choose to continue with the iACT® programme by hiring graduated practitioners to continue delivering services.
Organisational eligibility criteria:
- Service setting working with either youth aged 12-17; or adults aged 18-65
- Is committed to make proper referrals with respect to the preset screening criteria
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Minimum client caseload:
- Youth service organisations to have a minimum of 34 eligible clients to receive the individual/group interventions.
- Adult service organisations to have a minimum of 24 eligible clients to receive individual interventions.
Note: Should organisations have less than the required number of participating clients to receive support, organisations may consider the split placement option, whereby organisations will share a practitioner, however, this must be discussed and approved by Mind HK in advance.)
- Be able to provide a safe space for the trainee practitioner to conduct sessions
- Have an existing group of professional staff (e.g. qualified psychologist, social worker, or counsellor) to provide ad-hoc crisis support (if any), and step-down or step-up referral if needed/ suitable
- Be able to demonstrate organisational risk assessment and management protocols that provide adequate support for adults experiencing mental health problems and those working with them
FAQ
For further information on this programme, please visit our FAQ section of the page.
Enquiries
Should you have any questions please email the iACT® team at [email protected] .
Host Organisation sign up
To sign up, please click here.
FAQs
What is the Improving Access to Community Therapies (iACT®) Programme?
The programme course aims to recruit and train up wellbeing practitioners with a solid understanding of how to deliver low intensity psychological interventions for youth or adults with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. It hopes to increase access to mental health care and support for individuals by using manualised and guided self-help interventions based upon Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
This programme takes inspiration from the UK’s NHS Talking Therapies (formerly known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies “IAPT”).
It is a stepped care model designed to target individuals experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems, to help them manage their emotions, and clients can be moved up or down the support system based on the level of support required.
What supporting evidence is there for the iACT® programme?
Prior to the iACT® programme, Mind HK launched 2 pilot programmes to trial this intervention model.
The Youth Wellbeing Practitioner (YWP) pilot programme provided service to youth aged 12-24 concluded in summer 2023. Research findings showed that participants experienced:
Improved quality of life
Increased psychological flexibility
Reduced psychological distress
In addition, for clients aged 18-24, there was a recovery rate of up to 70%, which means that 70% of clients aged over 18 were considered to have entered “recovery” after completing the YWP intervention.
This figure is above the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) benchmark recovery rate of 50% for the adult population. This suggests that the YWP intervention effectively reduced psychological distress to sub-clinical levels for the majority of young adult clients who took part.
The Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) pilot programme which served individuals 18-65 is currently in progress. We expect results to be released in mid 2024.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychological therapy derived from the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness. It focuses on promoting the acceptance of painful thoughts and feelings in service of living a meaningful life, through working on important goals and activities in their lives. Also, there is now increasing evidence for the effectiveness of ACT in managing a wide range of psychological difficulties.
What is manualised intervention?
Manualised interventions clearly list out steps in the intervention, allowing practitioners to easily follow them to provide therapy. Standardised interventions are particularly important for providing effective, low intensity interventions.
Practitioners work through a standardised, step-by-step treatment procedure with each client, and depending on the clients needs, they will guide them through different concepts and exercises in the modules.
Although the intervention procedure is mostly standardised, practitioners will work flexibly with clients to address individual presenting problems and unique characteristics.
Where are the placements conducted?
Trainees will undergo the 9-month placement in various community settings. For example: schools, universities, community organisations, corporates or clinics.
Will trainees from NGO backgrounds be able to conduct their placement at their existing organisation?
Yes. Trainees will be able to conduct their placements at their employment organisations providing their organisations are participating in the programme and are supportive of this initiative. Please discuss this with team members from Mind HK to confirm this arrangement.
Independent trainees without association to any organisations will be assigned to host organisations by Mind HK.
How will trainees be assessed?
Trainees will undergo an assessment at the end of the initial teaching block. They will lead a practice session with a trainer to assess their skills and knowledge. The session will be recorded and reviewed by two assessors to verify that they have reached the required standard to commence their placements.
Supervisors will monitor trainees’ development throughout the placement to ensure that they are meeting the required level of competency to pass the training course at the end of the placement.
How will trainees be assessed?
Trainees will undergo an assessment at the end of the initial teaching block. They will lead a practice session with a trainer to assess their skills and knowledge. The session will be recorded and reviewed by two assessors to verify that they have reached the required standard to commence their placements.
Supervisors will monitor trainees’ development throughout the placement to ensure that they are meeting the required level of competency to pass the training course at the end of the placement.
Who will the trainees be providing the service to?
Youth aged 12-17 or adults aged 18-65 experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems and emotional distress.
Can you give me an example of the sort of person a wellbeing practitioner would be working with as a trainee?
Trainees will work with either youth aged 12-17 within an academic setting, or adults aged 18-65. Service beneficiaries are those experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems and emotional distress including, but not limited to, depression, generalised anxiety and low self esteem.
Due to there not being any current data available on the effectiveness of this intervention for individuals with more severe or complex mental health problems, this programme is therefore not recommended for individuals with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.
What language will the interventions be delivered in?
Practitioners will be trained in English, but will be able to deliver the interventions in Cantonese, Mandarin, English or other ethnic minority languages. In addition, since our client workbooks are designed in English and Traditional Chinese, clients are required to be able to understand one of these languages.
Why was the iACT® programme developed?
Hong Kong’s existing mental health service is experiencing a lot of strain with long waiting times and being under-resourced, resulting in individuals with mild to moderate mental health problems unable to receive support sooner. The programme was developed with the aim of training additional therapists to deliver early, evidence-based intervention, to prevent mental health problems from worsening.
