1. Please introduce yourself to the Pangyao community!
My name is Charity Fok, a local Hongkonger, born and raised. I love this city and its freedom, flexibility, and diversity.
2. Tell us about your background; what are you passionate about?
I work as a full-time psychologist in local schools. I am also an expressive arts therapist, and I used different arts as tools for group and individual therapy. The major arts modality that I use in therapy work is poetry and creative writing, though I also use visual art, drama, music and movement for the deepening of the processes.
I have fallen in love with writing since I was in primary school. As a child, I drew comic stories and wrote the dialogues in the bubbles. As a teen, I wrote drama scripts for my friends to act in, and poems to express my love and other feelings. I exchanged letters with my friends and looked forward to checking my mailbox everyday. When I grew older, I started to write lyrics to my friend's music and enjoyed watching ourselves on YouTube. That is the type of writer I am, completely amateur, always evolving.
3. What was the inspiration for your poetry and creative writing workshops?
I believe in the power of words. Writing has been a totally natural part of me. It was through reading and writing that I found a way to give shape to my feelings and experience. That was why I started my training in biblio/poetry therapy after I acquired my qualification of an expressive arts therapist. The poetry and creative writing workshops are my attempts to turn my learning into something hopefully meaningful to the community.
4. What sort of benefits or insights are participants likely to gain from your workshops?
I would categorize my workshops as following the methods of biblio/poetry therapy though I am still under supervised training. Biblio/poetry therapy could be developmental or clinical in nature, depending on the issues we deal with. So far the workshops that I ran and have planned for the members of Pangyao belong to the former, meaning we do not aim at tackling highly risky issues or psychiatric problems, but at personal growth and enrichment of the participants' life. Through the workshops, it is hoped that the participants could gain insights on their personal strengths, identity, preferences and how our origins and history shape who we are today. We also aim at exploring skills and strategies for stress and emotional management. We may also reflect on the different relationships in our lives.
5. How can Pangyao members get involved in your workshops?
Once I have come up with ideas about new workshops, or plans to re-run some developed programmes, I would discuss the dates and time with Martin and Aileen. It is very kind of them that they would help design beautiful flyers and post them on the Pangyao website. Pangyao members are welcome to enroll in the workshops following the directions on the flyers.
I also post about the workshops specifically for migrant workers, or for the general public, on my Facebook page, “A Tipsy Chatty Error- Expressive Arts Therapy.” You may also leave me your email address and phone numbers through Facebook messengers or email so that I can keep you posted. (Email: atipsychattyerror@gmail.com )
6. What social issues would you like to see improve in Hong Kong?
As I said in the beginning, I love the freedom that Hong Kong has always upheld (and hopefully continues to uphold). When we want changes, we need collective wisdom and power of people. That is why we need to do whatever we can to make sure everyone has the right to have his(/her/their/zis…) voice heard. The migrant workers’ is one of the voices that I wish to hear more of, so that the city could be truly theirs too.
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