Mind Matters: Facing negative emotions with courage is essential to staying positive, says this expert

Opting out of meaningful activities and utilising unhealthy thought strategies will cause further harm, Dr Alex Wai Ki Li points out.

It is unavoidable to encounter mental health challenges in our daily lives, but tackling them with negative approaches is definitely not the way out, stresses our interviewee, Dr Alex Wai Ki Li, Lead Psychologist, St John’s Cathedral Counselling Service.

As World Mental Health Day is fast approaching this Thursday (10 October), let’s step back and rethink the strategies to face our psychological challenges more positively.

On this occasion, Dr Li shares his insights and top tips on working around maladaptive behaviours to maintain mental wellbeing, in this second piece of the Mind Matters column.

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Q: What, according to you, is the biggest mental health challenge facing Hong Kong today?

I think one of our biggest mental health challenges is avoidance of our negative emotions through various maladaptive behaviours that include distractions, opting out of meaningful activities, utilising unhealthy thought strategies, and/or turning to addictive behaviours.

These behaviours can actually cause more harm in the long run. Instead of facing negative emotions, we find various ways to not have to experience negative emotions and it then causes unwanted negative consequences in our lives.

Finding the courage to face our psychological challenges head on is a skill that is essential for optimising mental health.

Q: Can you share the top three strategies you practise to maintain your own mental wellbeing?

Finding meaning and purpose in the work or activities that you engage with is important to feel you are making progress.

We need to spend quality time with our friends and have a good support network of friends and loved ones. It is also important not to put them on the backburner thinking you will have time to spend with them at some point in the future.

Make sure there is variety in your self-care practices and interests as you never know when one of these self-care practices may not be available anymore.

Q: What are you most looking forward to in your session at NCPC, where you'll be speaking on 17 October?

I look forward to meeting fellow professionals, speaking about the topic of mental health, and advocating for increased awareness.

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Keen to know more about the best practices for maintaining mental health, and gain insights into novel approaches and techniques for counselling and psychotherapy? Join Hong Kong’s top national conference dedicated to these topics to enhance your knowledge and skills while engaging with leading experts in this field.

Register now to secure the very last seats for National Counselling & Psychotherapy Conference (NCPC)!