HEaRT@cafe330 (Not offered in the academic year of 2023-24)

Service description

HEaRT@cafe330 is a social inclusion platform that gives HKU students a chance to work as a Barista Trainee (咖啡師助理) or a Cashier in cafe330. To promote community support for people with mental disabilities, you will collaborate with vocational trainees, who are in recovery of mental illness, from the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. Students are recruited every semester.

Specific requirements

All barista trainees and cashiers should:

• Be current full-time undergraduate or postgraduate HKU students
• Be able to read and communicate in Cantonese
• Attend the orientation, trainings, work weeks, and evaluation meeting

What will I gain as a Barista Trainee/ Cashier?

• A deeper understanding of people in recovery of mental illness and their abilities
• Knowledge about the operation of a social enterprise
• Work placement and professional work etiquette
• A facilitating environment to practise your coffee-making, customer service, problem-solving, and communication skills 

Learn about what our students say after joining HEaRT@cafe330!

“喺330做完之後領悟到我哋唔應該將我哋同精神病康復者定義為兩種人, 以幫佢哋嘅心態去同佢哋接觸, 其實佢哋都好想我哋將佢哋放喺同一個平台上去同佢哋相處。”- Nelson

“雖然佢哋曾經有精神病但完全冇影響佢哋嘅工作能力, 甚至要比我哋做得更好。”- Bonnie

“佢哋比我想像中情緒穩定, 而且非常獨立, 可以好好地自己一個完成手頭上嘅工作。”- Queenie

“好感謝330營造咗一個好open同friendly嘅工作環境比我哋一齊做嘢。”- Kate

“喺同人相處方面精神病康復者可能比較怕醜, 冇我哋咁主動, 可能好多時候都需要我哋主動啲去關心佢哋同佢哋講野, 但其實佢哋都好希望我哋去咁樣做, 亦都會好開心。”- Kylie

“同佢哋嘅溝通方式唔係淨係一味靠問問題,可以多觀察之後同返佢哋講我哋觀察到嘅嘢, 其實會比佢哋感受到我哋有一直留意同關心佢哋。”- Ambrose

“I major in Psychology. Although I have acquired a lot of information and communication skills related to people with mental illnesses from textbooks, it is a valuable experience to actualize those theories learnt from books.” - Stephanie  

"I feel extremely lucky, being granted an opportunity to work as a barista at cafe330, and to work with people in recovery from mental illness. You'll gain a deeper understanding of their population, especially if you proactively interact with them….if you do get any downtime during your shift, utilize it as an opportunity to understand your coworkers and the working environment. Good luck everyone!" - Klaus

The environment of cafe330 at HKU:

Our 330 barista trainees and cashiers in service:

Coffee-making and latte art by our barista trainees: