The Shall We Talk initiative was launched today to promote mental health and eliminate the stigma towards people with mental health needs.

The initiative, jointly organised by the Advisory Committee on Mental Health and the Department of Health, aims to build a mental health friendly community by encouraging the public to communicate and share with people around them.

Famous singer Eason Chan was appointed the initiative's ambassador and a rearranged version of his classic Canto-pop song Shall We Talk has been chosen as the initiative’s theme song to arouse public attention to mental well-being.

Sustaining the efforts of Joyful@HK campaign, a citywide mental health promotion and publicity campaign launched by the department from 2016 to 2018, the new initiative strives to increase public engagement in promoting mental well-being, enhance public knowledge about mental health with a view to encouraging help-seeking and early intervention and reduce the stigma towards those with mental illness.

A series of promotional activities will be rolled out to deliver mental health messages to people of different age groups.

A brand new, one-stop dedicated website has been set up to provide the public with information on mental well-being, common mental health problems, treatment, community support, activities and story sharing.