Helping Ambitious Teens

Excellent grades at school don't always ensure that relationships at home will also be excellent. The pressures on bright students sometimes mean that family relationships may also be stressful. Yuki's situation was one such example.

Yuki's performance at senior secondary school exceeded expectations. She is a bright girl who knows that a good education offers far higher changes of forging a successful career. Most Hong Kong students would move to a better school if their grades were as good as Yuki's, but knowing that the school's reputation would benefit from producing a top student, her school arranged additional academic assistance for their star pupil. It wasn't long before Yuki was overwhelmed.

The pressure on her became a real burden. Her health deteriorated and she began to lose weight. As Yuki became more stressed over her studies her mother began to worry. She said: "I have very high expectations of Yuki, so when her health deteriorated I felt guilty that I couldn’t provide better living circumstances for her."

Because Yuki and her mother are dependent on Social Welfare, Yuki was eligible to join Christian Action's Child Development Fund programme. Through a careful selection process, Christian Action matches mentors with suitable mentees, and then offers training to equip all parties to get the best out of the programme. The mentor, the mentee and the family are actively involved. They get to know one another by sharing meals, playing sports and going places together. The mentor takes an active interest in the mentee’s academic performance, and teaches the mentee various life skills, such as the importance of time management and getting enough rest.

Yuki's mother believes that the mentor, Juli, really had an impact. Juli helped bridge the gap between Yuki and her mother, who said, "Juli helped Yuki and I understand each other better. She helped us see ourselves from a different perspective, which went a long way to reducing the stress in our lives. I am now better equipped to manage my ambitious teenager!"

Yuki has recovered her good health and is now coping better with her studies, thanks to Christian Action’s mentoring programme.