Short Bio
Dr. Edward Kwan, Ph.D., MPA, BA, BSW, PCPsych. CGC
Dr. Kwan is the first certified gambling counsellor in Hong Kong SAR China and has been in private practice as a gambling addiction specialist for over 20 years. In 2003, he launched the first Basic Certification training program in Hong Kong to equip mental health workers, social workers, psychologists, and counsellors with knowledge and skills in gambling counselling. In 2005, he published the first Chinese self-help workbook. << 問題賭博互助自強手冊>> for problem gamblers and family. The workbook has been widely used as a self-help and group recovery tool by agencies in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Chinese communities in Australia, UK, and the US. In 2007, Edward launched the first Chinese website (www.problem-gambling.org) to support Chinese communities around the globe with clinically grounded information related to gambling addiction. In 2009, he further developed Advanced Certificate training for professionals in the field. He has been consulted by the Hong Kong government and various local NGOs on issues of gambling addictions. He is appointed as adviser to government-subvented gambling counselling centers in Hong Kong and has been invited to present at the University of Hong Kong, Open University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was appointed as an honorary clinical associate at the Center of Behavioural Health, HKU. In late 2020, Dr. Kwan has designed and delivered a course on Addiction Counselling at the Hong Kong Institute of Christian Counsellors (HKICC).
Academic Interests
With his extensive clinical experiences and academic interests, he further contributed to the field by conducting grounded theory research on Chinese wives of problem gamblers in Hong Kong. Dr. Kwan’s doctorate degree is conferred by the University of Melbourne due to his major contribution in building new theories for guiding culturally informed addiction counselling practices in the Asian context. Dr. Kwan has been active in presenting at international conferences including
the 5th Asian Pacific Problem Gambling and Addiction Conference (Hong Kong, 11/2020)
the 9th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health (UK, 7/2019)
the International Conference on Change and Innovation for a Better World: The Future of Social Work Profession (Hong Kong, 6/2019)
the 13th International Conference on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (Malaysia, 2018)
the 8th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health (Singapore, 2016)
In early 2020, Dr. Kwan was invited to assist as an expert panel member in a Delphi study conducted by the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) to investigate the quality and effective service design and delivery for families and others affected by gambling harm. Dr. Kwan is an associate lecturer at the Hong Kong Insitute of Public Administration (HKIPA), an Associate Fellow of the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association (HKPCA), and a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society (GMBPsS). In addition to his university teaching, Dr. Kwan is in the private practice of counseling and psychotherapy for people affected by addictive behaviours in local regions and across the globe.
Publications
Edward Kwan, Samson Tse & Alun C Jackson (2020) ' The Impact of Problem Gambling on the Female Spouses of Male Chinese Gamblers in Hong Kong: Emergence of a Multiple-Self Model'. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.
Modules
Year 1 Master
Addiction comes in many forms, from drug addiction to addiction to video games, gambling or the internet. The consequences of addiction both for the individual client and for their family and friends can often be hugely destructive. Addictive behavior, like most human activity, is a learnt behavior, and the principles of both classical and instrumental conditioning will be explored during the course in relation to addiction. The course will also explore measures of "impaired control" in addiction and in clinical interventions, such as desensitization and aversive conditioning. Students will gain an understanding of how certain addictive behavior, for example gambling, is strongly related to the structure of the addictive activity. These structural features along with different personality traits provide the seeds for the development of addictive behavior. As well as an understanding of the basis of addictive behavior, the course will also cover the different therapeutic approaches used to modify and eliminate such behavior. This includes techniques based on stimulus control, counter-conditioning as well as more cognitive approaches.
This course module will discuss the nature and extent of drug/substance abuse / addiction as global health problems and in Macau contemporary society. It will provide its etiology, theoretical framework of addiction, cycle of addiction, models of addiction, different kinds of addiction, addictive behavior or behavioral addiction and co-dependency. Furthermore, the social worker’s role and responsibilities in the preventive, treatment and rehabilitation, recovery, relapse prevention and after-care programs and services for the drug users / addicts will be covered in this course module.
In this course, it introduces the improvement about the quality of work life, protection and pormotion of the safety, health, and well-being of workers and the families. Also, it explores the reseach in contempary industrial/organizational psychology, health psychology, and occupational health. In addition, application of researches in Organisational Psychology will be implemented.
Year 2 Bachelor
This module begins with a review of the different paradigms and models in psychopatahology and abnormal psychology. Then, the details of the scientific study of abnormal behaviour will be covered, including - descriptive aspects (classification, clinical description and diagnosis) and etiological aspects (causal factors and etiological models). Students will learn how to use major manuals of classification - the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD10) and the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental disorders (DSM-5). The module will then review of the impact of mental disorders on the life of individuals, their families and communities and how support services are organised in different cultures.
Year 3 Bachelor
The foundations of clinical psychology will be adressed in this module, in particular, what are its historical development, fields of action and main research methods. The principles of the major perspectives of psychotherapy in clinical psychology will be reviewed, including the psychodynamic, the phenomenological/humanist-existential, the behavioural and cognitive behavioural approach. A brief overview of the main features of group therapy, family therapy and couples therapy wil also be included.
"This course module will discuss the etiology, theoretical framework of behavioral addiction or addictive
behavior, cycle of addiction, types of behavioral addiction and co-dependency in the family system. It shall discuss the roles and responsibilities of the social worker in the preventive, treatment and rehabilitation, recovery, relapse prevention and after-care programs and services for the young people with behavioral addiction problems and their family members.
It will discuss the nature and extent of the behavioral addiction problems in Macau, China Regions and other countries. "
Year 4 Bachelor
This module has the basic premise that the process of psychological assessment is one of the phases in the process of clinical intervention. Students will acquire skills to understand and implement a process of psychological assessment by: selecting the most acurate methodologies and tools for each case; using those methodologies and tools in a proper way; integrating data and conceptualising the results in order to make a clinical formulation; prepare an assessment report, and giving recommendations for appropriate clinical interventions. In this module learning will include contact with materials, role playing activities and discussion of case studies.
Starting with a discussion of the concept of “normality”, this module will cover the important developmental disorders of childhood and adolescence, including intelectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, cerebral palsy, physical disabilities and sensorial dissabilities. For each of these disorders, the causes, assessment and diagnosis will be evaluated and their developmental course as well as the most important principles and strategies for interventions will be discussed. Special attention to functionality and health will be given and how to promote an inclusive life for every child.
