To Listen, To Feel 

“How are you?” - when was the last time you asked this question out of genuine curiosity? And when was the last time you replied with your authentic feelings instead of a robotic “yea doing okay” which doesn’t really mean anything? But we are not the one to blame. After all, most students in Hong Kong are told and taught that the “correct answer” of the question is “I’m fine, thank you.” Yet, is this so-called correct answer actually appropriate ? Raymond Yang, Fellow 2017-18, would give you a firm opinion. As a fellow, Raymond has already been a strong advocate for education to aware, listen and empathize with students' feelings and needs Therefore, after the fellowship programme, he co-founded JUST FEEL - an NGO endeavouring to transform the communication culture in schools and families to enhance the emotional well-being of students. His successful journey transforming from a fellow to a co-founder involves countless ups and downs, but this dream has eventually come true.

To Initiate; To Act 

This metamorphosis from a fellow to an entrepreneur doesn’t just happen overnight, but it all started with an encounter with a crying little girl. During his placement, Raymond met this emotionally unstable little girl in his classroom, who cried so often that no one knew how to communicate with her. Yet, with high autonomy given by the school and his own proactivity to try, Raymond took the initiative to approach and talk to the girl with genuine care.He succeeded in calming the girl down applying compassionate communication, and everybody was at awe. At this moment, Raymond has realized that being confident enough to take the lead and act independently with the freedom and autonomy given by the school and TFHK, is the key to making a true impact on education.

To Achieve, To Realize 

After the fellowship, Raymond has brought his belief in compassionate communication in education to the next level, and co-founded JUST FEEL with another fellow Matthew Kwok, as well as a CUHK alumnus Anthony Ngai. With the proactivity and independence nurtured throughout the fellowship programme, they developed their own style of running the NGO. For example, as strong believers in the importance of constant impact evaluation, they treasure constructive feedback and response by inviting users to comment on their workshops, and making changes to their initiatives in order to cater the needs of their target audience. For instance, before the launch of their Feelings & Needs Cards, the cofounders have gone through a comprehensive process to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the cards and developed guidelines to help schools make good use of them. After all, Fellowship is not a teacher training program - it’s an experience of bringing your own visions to reality, of you making a true impact on society.

About “Just FEEL”

JUST FEEL was founded in June, 2018, funded by Good Seed, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. And is now joining hands with DH Chen Foundation as core partners.It aims to empower teachers and parents to nurture the next generation to live out compassionate communication through the Compassionate School Programme, to co-create Compassionate school culture in an in-depth and holistic approach with schools, including provide social and emotional learning support to schools, Including four pillars of service: Teachers Training and Empowerment, Student Interactive Curriculum & Toolkits, Parents Training & Empowerment and Campus Environment Redesign. Two of their founders - Raymond and Matthew, were Fellows from Teach For Hong Kong.