According to Ming Pao, following the waves of financial tsunami that spurred the companies to lay off employees, Hong Kong Christian Services “Employee Development Assistant” (EDS), which provides professional personal consultation and counseling for corporation employees and those who were laid off, reported a significant increase in the number of visitations made in the last two months. The monthly average rose from of 40 visitations to 70 visitation, an 80% increase.

The EDS General Manager Ms. Rainbow Cheung said that the number of outside visitation has increased by 60 times in the last two months; 18 of the visits were for personal counseling, 16 of the visits were for critical stress management, 2 of the visits were for encouragements, and 12 of the visits were onsite counseling – counseling those laid off at the companies. This service targets financial corporations. Moreover, two more companies joined this service. With the increase in the number of monthly visitations, HKSS is looking to recruit more social workers and clinical psychologists to meet the pressing needs.

Hong Kong Christian Services began the Employee Development Assistant back in 1991. It provided professional counseling services for employees in their workplaces and families. It now serves 50 client companies, which has a total of 150,000 employees, and 15 of them are financial corporations.

[Editor's note: reporter Carol Yu contributed to this report.]