This course aims to equip students with the knowledge to identify and describe the characteristic symptoms of specific mental disorders, and to nurture their ability to creatively apply mental health and social work related knowledge and skills to design intervention plans to work with people with mental illness and their families, as well as with other parties/professionals, and to critically evaluate social policies and services and related issues in mental health care in Hong Kong and ultimately to generate innovative practice with the new knowledge and discovery gained in the learning process.