Interviewed with 2 psychologists about youth mental health issues
NO.1 PSYCHOLOGIST (WANJIAO YU)
“Teenagers are in a critical period of development, and when the normal order of life is disrupted, the probability of a mental illness episode rises sharply.” (Wanjiao Yu, 2022)
Wanjiao Yu has a Master's degree in Applied Psychology from Jilin University and is a full-time mental health teacher at my friend's university. As I am now trying to narrow down my stakeholders to Generation Z and she is very knowledgeable about mental health issues and the current situation of young people, I asked her to do a phone interview with me to get some feedback from her on my project.
She told me that university students have always had a high prevalence of psychological problems before, especially in Generation z. The internet allows us to see more information, which makes us more prone to anxiety, and the psychological problems of teenagers after the epidemic are even more serious to the extent that she is worried.
And when I asked her what she thought of the CYBER-EMPATH project that I was now designing, she said.
"As university teachers, we have also used modern technology to help students' mental health during the epidemic, such as virtual meetings where students and teachers can see each other is very effective and comforting for students. Our college has played a role in providing online resources and mental health services to students, including online counseling to students who need it. I think this idea of yours is very creative, especially during the epidemic, and needs to be created to help these young people in more digital ways to help with mental health."
NO.2 PSYCHOLOGIST (Tim Huang)
Tim Huang is a graduate student of Tulane University with a dual Master's degree in Clinical Social Work and Disaster Prevention Leadership and completed his Ph.D. in Social Work in December 2021. During his studies, he received systematic training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Suicide Self-Harm Crisis Intervention, and Trauma Therapy.
Dr. Wang told me that according to his observations in mental health education over the past ten years, there are some shortcomings in the mental health of young people as follows: Firstly, the degree of attention paid by schools varies, especially within China. There is not enough publicity and guidance in this area of psychological healing, and the relevant curriculum is not very practical. Students rarely seek help when they encounter problems, and they do not know how to seek help.
Secondly, although there are mental health teachers in schools, their professionalism varies, with some not having studied psychology systematically, some having experienced teachers as part-time teachers, and some not having a counselor certificate, and they often rely on their experience to guide them when they encounter problems, rather than carrying out professional counseling. Schools do not have an effective mechanism to interface with professional bodies, so if a student's problems are beyond the teacher's ability to intervene psychologically, how do they get a referral? This is a blind spot.
Thirdly, schools do not have a scientifically set time for the psychological assessment of students, and the corresponding measures are not well developed.