On May 29, our School held a special lecture on psychological training for the tutorship program. Mr. Mingbo LIU from the Mental Health Center of Fudan University and Mr. Bin YE, director of the China Association for Mental Health, a member of the Committee of Clinical and Counseling Psychology of the Chinese Psychological Society and former Director of the Center for Education in Mental Health of East China Normal University, analyzed contemporary university students’ psychological conditions for our School’s supervisors as the guest speaker to help them strengthen the ability of mental health education for students. Deputy Secretary Kai YAO chaired the lecture.

　(From left) Mr. Mingbo LIU from the Mental Health Center of Fudan University and Mr. Bin YE, director of the China Association for Mental Health, analyze contemporary university students’ psychological conditions for our School’s teachers

At the beginning of the activity, Deputy Secretary Kai YAO first introduced the progress in the tutorship program and a survey, and pointed out that the results of the interim report on the survey of the tutorship program showed that students hoped to communicate with supervisors on emotional and psychological aspects the most and wished to receive help and support.

Then, Mr. Mingbo LIU explained from two perspectives: the psychological conditions of our students and how to define and respond to university students’ psychological illnesses. He said that the psychological conditions of today’s students are healthy and positive on the whole, but university students’ psychological problems and mental illnesses increase every year. There are many factors affecting university students’ psychological health from individuals, universities, families, etc. Therefore, supervisors should, on the one hand, try to understand students and avoid putting too great pressure on them, and on the other hand, pay close attention to students’ daily study, life and communication with others while tutoring them.

Mr. Bin YE began with an interesting game, and then elaborated various aspects of psychological care for university students: for supervisors, educating people and imparting knowledge are equally important, and they should fully know every student’s personality. Mr. YE summarized the special characteristics of the new generation in several aspects. Mr. YE suggested that supervisors should give more thought to how to respond to change and pressure, how to foster the ability to think independently and how to foster an optimistic and positive attitude, and help students think about, analyze and solve problems. Supervisors should be not only students’ good teachers, but also their helpful friends.

Many teachers present said that this special lecture on psychological training enabled them to have a clearer understanding of contemporary university students’ psychological characteristics, and further clarified the goal and direction of mental health education for university students.

June 8, 2012