LINE

Text:AAAPrint
Feature

Troubled students need professional help

1
2016-03-29 09:33Shanghai Daily Editor: Huang Mingrui

A 12-year-old girl wants to end her life. A 9-year-old boy is weary of studying. A 10-year-old boy is a compulsive bully. Child psychologist Zhou Ji's career is filled with the travails of growing up.

For the last 10 years, Zhou has tried to help 3,000 troubled students at Changshouqiao Primary School and other schools in Hangzhou. Many of the problems he tries to untangle can be traced to anxiety about school exams. Others stem from unhappy homes.

In a sense, his caseload is a reflection of the tribulations of modern society.

"Many mental troubles in children are caused by family problems," Zhou said.

He ticked off a familiar list: parents' marital strife, parents too busy to spend time with their children, pressure from parents to do well on exams. Then, too, many young people have to deal with hormonal changes that confuse and even frighten them.

Zhou cited several cases that came to mind. A 12-year-old girl left a suicide note for Zhou, telling him she had dumped three boyfriends and was about to get rid of a fourth. It was a desperate call for help. The girl, whose parents are divorced, lived with her grandparents.

"What do you want from these boys?" he asked the girl.

"I want them to talk with me," she answered. "But they don't do that."

"Whom do you want to talk with most, if you could choose anyone?" he asked her.

"Dad," she replied, without hesitation.

Zhou concluded that the crux of the girl's problem was a crying need to be loved by her father.

Then there was a boy torn between a father who gambled heavily and a mother he wanted to protect. The boy was trying to encourage his mother to get a divorce, but he felt guilty "betraying" his father.

Zhou said few children were referred to him when he began work as a child psychologist in schools 10 years ago. At the time, he saw fewer than 20 pupils a year. Today, his schedule is so full that he often has to work overtime.

Psychology is more accepted today, Zhou said.

"In the past, many Chinese people held the view that only crazy or abnormal people saw psychologists," he explained. "Nowadays, they have come to see us as a counseling service helping address anxiety and other personal problems."

Indeed, there is also a dawning awareness about the mental health of children and adolescents.

Dawning awareness

Last month, the government of Zhejiang Province initiated a project requiring every elementary and middle school to provide psychological examinations for new students and to include two counseling classes a month in the curriculum.

In those classes, students are asked to examine themselves and answer questions. What should I do if I get bullied? What happens if I don't pass an exam? How should I react if my mother and father quarrel?

The Xiacheng District of Hangzhou is establishing a database of the psychological profiles of over 30,000 students. Intervention will occur in instances of high-risk cases.

The Youth Health Club, founded by the Xiacheng District Education Bureau last month, is serving as a pilot project providing counseling for students with problems and addressing everyday situations that vex adolescents, including sex issues.

"We want to ease teenagers' sense of guilt caused by their curiosity," said Luo Fang, a psychologist and official at the club. "By discussing problems together, we demystify growing up and help them face physical and mental changes in a positive way."

Despite the efforts, educators and psychologists say there is still much to be done.

Although almost all elementary and middle schools have offices for psychological counseling, but the staffs are frequently ordinary teachers without specialized training.

Zhou, who has a bachelor's degree in child psychology, remains the only professional psychologist working at an elementary school in urban Hangzhou.

"It's hard to be both a teacher and a psychologist," Zhou said. "Teachers tell students how to solve problems; psychologists help students find solutions themselves. It would be best if each school had a trained psychologist."

Zhou and a group of volunteers have organized a "parent salon" that works with parents on finding creative ways to deal with the growing-up pains of children. Each parent receives 12 hours of instruction.

 

  

Related news

MorePhoto

Most popular in 24h

MoreTop news

MoreVideo

News
Politics
Business
Society
Culture
Military
Sci-tech
Entertainment
Sports
Odd
Features
Biz
Economy
Travel
Travel News
Travel Types
Events
Food
Hotel
Bar & Club
Architecture
Gallery
Photo
CNS Photo
Video
Video
Learning Chinese
Learn About China
Social Chinese
Business Chinese
Buzz Words
Bilingual
Resources
ECNS Wire
Special Coverage
Infographics
Voices
LINE
Back to top Links | About Us | Jobs | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.