Xiaohongshu
Angel has been a tireless voice for mental health advocacy, starting her own mental health campaign when she was 16 and now helping to support thousands globally through her charity Overcome.
During her 4 years studying for a UCL MSci in Psychology, Angel Au was President of both the Psychology Society and Mental Health Society, and a Psychology Course Representative.
Angel’s work in mental health advocacy began at school in Hong Kong, where there is still a stigma around seeking help. At just 16, she launched ‘ReMINDer’, a bilingual campaign, sharing insights from psychiatrists and people with lived experience of mental health conditions, in an effort to raise awareness.
While at UCL, Angel also volunteered to answer helplines with charities Shout and BEAT and worked on the wards at UCLH. These experiences earned her a job at a local Mind crisis support service, where she became their youngest ever Team Manager. She made it work, attending classes in the daytime and commuting to shifts in the evening, finding time to study “between the cracks.”
She credits UCL for giving her the resources to follow her passion:
UCL gave me the confidence to scale up. In such a huge community, everyone always helps each other out.
Angel co-founded charity Overcome in response to poor public funding and costly private services for those seeking help with their mental health. Overcomes delivers mental health training for non-professionals to deliver peer-led online support. Their sustainable, online model - delivered by trained volunteers - means they have been able to provide support to thousands globally.
For her master’s dissertation, Angel led a randomised controlled trial on Overcome’s flagship procrastination coaching programme, finding that it significantly improved life satisfaction and reduced procrastination. Now she hopes to deliver this programme on a much broader scale.
Angel wants to continue her work through PhD study at UCL. She may be young, but that hasn’t stopped her.
Age doesn’t limit what you can do. If you have an idea, go for it.
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