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The third cohort of the Leadership Institute on Narcotics (L.I.O.N.) kicked off with the ice-breaking day cum opening ceremony at the Police Headquarters on April 6. Commissioner Siu Chak-yee officiated at the ceremony and presented certificates of appreciation to sponsoring bodies and certificates of appointment to L.I.O.N.’s Executive Committee members, professional trainers and mentors for their dedication to anti-drug efforts.
The Commissioner advised the mentees to appreciate the learning journey in the year ahead to become leaders. On the day, the mentees and mentors went through team tasks that required problem-solving and self-challenging skills. To cheer mentees of the third cohort, awardees from the second cohort came to share their learning results and insights from their exchange tour to New Zealand.
The third cohort of L.I.O.N. commenced on February 24 with the first training activity - a visit to Shek Kwu Chau Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre. The mentees assisted in renovating the facilities of the centre and listened to former drug addicts’ stories of drug abuse and journey of addiction treatment. The mentees deeply understood the slogan, “Drugs? Never Ever!” after the activity. The first training day was held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on March 9. The mentees acquired drug-related knowledge and criminal liabilities from professionals and explored drug identification methods through lab visits. During the new stress management course introduced this year, the mentees learned how to deal with pressure, with guidance from professional social workers.
With the experience gained in the past two cohorts, L.I.O.N. will keep optimising the programme of the third cohort to give the mentees more learning experience. Founded in 2021, L.I.O.N. nurtures 80 secondary school students and 20 undergraduates to become anti-drug leaders each year and has established an effective platform for concerted anti-drug efforts in the community. In the first two cohorts, 200 young anti-drug leaders were trained to disseminate anti-drug information to over 50 000 citizens.
