It is with a heavy heart that I welcome you to the Grief & Heal Conference 2026. Grief is never abstract. It lives in us, in neighbourhoods, in the silence between people. At a time when Hong Kong is carrying fresh wounds, this Conference is an attempt to face that reality together.

We are grateful for the support of the HKEX Foundation, and for the partnership of the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care at CUHK and the School of Nursing at HKU. Many local and international speakers have also chosen to stand with us, lending their experience to a city that is still learning how to hold loss.

The aim of our Conference is to open space for elephant-in-the-room topics – important topics that often sit in the background because they are uncomfortable or rarely discussed. This year, Hong Kong will hear, for the first time, a focused discussion on the disenfranchised grief experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals. We are especially honoured to be joined by Professor Richard Harding, a leading global scholar on LGBTQ+ loss and palliative care, whose insights have shaped practice across continents.

Running alongside the academic sessions, the Journey of Heal offers a different way of approaching grief, which is often hard to name and speak about. Through films, human libraries, sports and meditation, we hope to create moments of connection and understanding for experiences that are usually kept private.

At Alongside, our mission is to drive changes through knowledge. When we understand better, we care better. And when we care better, resilience becomes possible – something that grows naturally when people are supported and seen.

It is also my honour to serve again as Chairperson of the Conference Organising Committee. None of this would be possible without our team, who have put in long hours and constant thought to bring this programme to life. I am deeply grateful for their work.

With your presence, we move forward together, in grief and in healing.