Behind her pink plastic glasses, Carrie Lau's eyes are smiling.
The eight-year-old is no longer shy. Her grades are up. She is cheerful. Carrie is one of 500 children who has been referred over the past few years to a special programme run by the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service.
The programme, Stand by U, is designed for youngsters aged six to 18 who live with a parent suffering from a mental illness. Children can be paired up with a mentor or learn coping skills in two of the group's centres around Hong Kong.
'Mental illness' is a blanket term in Hong Kong applying to a variety of ailments including depression, anxiety disorder and schizophrenia.
Carrie's mother, Vivian, was suffering from depression and it was weighing on her little girl. Carrie became withdrawn, her work suffered at school. She thought she might be the cause of her mother's sorrow.
Vivian, 36, was hurting, lacking energy and hope, but it wasn't her daughter's fault. She suffered from post-natal depression after the birth of her first child and also went through a divorce.