speakers 2022 Angie Shum - JC JoyAge Research Website

Ms. Angie Shum

Ms Angie Shum is one of the training officers of JC JoyAge in HKU and a Clinical Psychologist trained in the Azusa Pacific University in the United States. Ms. Shum has worked in different educational settings and private clinic. She has been working extensively with young children, youth and adults on mental health issues, suicide, and grief. She has also conducted training on suicide crisis management and prevention for frontline social workers in the community. She is currently engaging in a research study for older adults with chronic pain by adopting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. As a mental health professional, she is keen to work with older adults and increase their access to the therapies that have been evidenced to work and to localize intervention into the community.

Working With Older Adults With Suicide Risk

Worldwide, older adults have a significantly higher of suicide when compared to any other age group, and depression is an established risk factor for suicide. In 2021, Hong Kong recorded the highest number of older people suicides since the late 90s. Knowing the risk factors and recognizing the warning signs for suicide can help prevent suicide; however, older adults at risk for suicide have not received enough attention. Early warning signs are often overlooked by themselves, family members, and societies alike. To respond to the heightened depression and suicide risk in older people, the JC JoyAge project team developed the “‘Suicide Prevention and Postvention Toolkit” (toolkit) that cover from suicide prevention, intervention to postvention. In this workshop, the speaker will share the highlight of this toolkit, the risks of suicide in older adults, screening scales for suicidal risk assessment and crisis intervention will also be discussed.