Kids

How Kids of Today’s Mental Health Shapes the Future

by Kevyn Gohu
November 15, 2022

Adrian Cheng’s launch of the WEMP foundation, a non-profit organization for kids’ mental health, is a step in the right direction for a better future.

“Children are tomorrow’s leaders. It is our responsibility to educate, nurture, and empower them to build a better future for themselves, and the world,” says Adrian Cheng. And he couldn’t be more right about it. As parents, we know that half of our lives are over. Closing in at our 40s to 60s, the only thing we can do for our kids is to teach them a compassionate form of resilience that will help them engage and support one another—especially those suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation—and improve their mental health.

Thus, WEMP begins in Hong Kong in hopes of setting an example for the rest of the Asian countries.

Family Care and School: The two most important components

There are two sets of people that kids interact with the most: whoever’s in school and their families. Studies have already proven that troubles at home can affect our kids’ mental health which shows in their behaviors in school—especially when there is violence or financial difficulties that make them feel ashamed to face their peers. Adrian Cheng’s hope for the WEMP is for it to be able to accompany parents and schools on their journey to making compassionate, resilient, and mindful of their ability to build a better world.

They also intend to create more family-friendly ways to teach kids about their emotions. WEMP partners with a non-profit organization called JUST FEEL to create a card game that helps teach kids about emotions.

A Kid’s Mental Health is A Window to the Future

All parents’ greatest wish for their children is to have a happy, successful, and healthy future. But how can they do that when there’s too much pressure on being successful and rich? Or, there’s just too much weight on grades? A lot of these often occur when parents find themselves at their wits’ end regarding how to teach their kids. Which, unfortunately, can be more damaging to their mental health than useful. It’s with WEMP’s efforts that they hope to change how parents and teachers understand mental health and how they can improve theirs and their kids’ for a brighter future.