How Hong Kong’s schools are embracing AI for Gen Alpha’s mental health

The school counsellor’s office has long been a familiar fixture of student well-being, providing a safe, quiet space for private and often sensitive conversations.

But for a generation raised on online gaming worlds, chatbots and digital identities, that model is no longer the only pathway to emotional support.
Across Hong Kong, educators and researchers are experimenting with what some describe as ‘third spaces’ for mental health – environments that sit somewhere between formal face-to-face...