Roadsign search engine for mental health services in Hong Kong points patients on path to recovery

Lack of awareness in society and sense of futility led founders to set up database that categorises services, disorders and costs, simplifying help for sufferers

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(From left) Cliffy, Mimosa Ho, Big Big Grey Bear and Adri, members of Team Error, the group behind online site Roadsign. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:30am, 25 May 2019Updated: 9:30am, 25 May 2019

Big Big Grey Bear still remembers the sleepless nights in 2017 when she was tormented by suicidal thoughts and googled “mental health help” countless times online.

“I was going through a divorce that year, and was seriously depressed. Simply reaching out takes a huge amount of courage,” says the 30-year-old, who prefers to use a nickname.

She was first diagnosed with clinical depression six years ago, largely rooted in her childhood experiences of domestic violence.

What frustrated her even more was the lack of local resources available online. “All I found were ads of private counsellors, and outdated web pages of the Social Welfare Department telling people to ‘see a doctor’.”

Roadsign creators want to bring a one-stop help portal to sufferers of mental health. Photo: Dickson Lee

“I thought: there has to be a search engine just for people like me,” she says. By the end of that year, she gathered a dozen volunteers to build Roadsign, a free resource website listing categorised and verified information of more than 100 organisations that offer mental health care in Hong Kong.