A co-created and co-owned information platform One Stop Shop (OSS) has recently been set up by the Department of Applied Social Sciences in collaboration with various other parties, to provide support for ongoing learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OSS hopes to convey its positive message - “Embrace your life with love, care and hope” - to those who are emotionally distressed as a result of the over-two-year-long pandemic.

“So long as we can recognise the communities of support that exist, and discover our own hidden potential, we will weather the storm and look forward to brighter days with hope and confidence.” With this belief in mind, the OSS team has been working intensively in collaboration with staff, students and alumni, as well as various social welfare organisations and professional associations. A series of professional talks, workshops and patient sharing sessions have been arranged via the platform since late March, with many other services going online recently. The public has access to a variety of resources including workshops by professional facilitators (with topics including play therapy, expressive arts therapy, healing for wellness and community arts) and a "Learn from Home" video series leveraging multimedia to navigate topics related to the pandemic. Staff, students and alumni who have recovered from COVID-19 are also invited to share their experiences of recovery and emotional transformation.

The Department has also joined hands with the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Durham University (UK) and The University of Toronto (Canada) to organise an online professional seminar series titled "Riding Out the Pandemic" to help people cope with the anxiety that can arise from the pandemic.

The platform is now open for public. More details can be found here.