According to the Report on the Development of National Mental Health in China (2019-2020), the prevalence of depression among Chinese adolescents reached 24.6% in 2020, and depression and severe depression also showed an upward trend as students increased their grades. According to the results of the study of "Outstanding Problems and Countermeasures of Left-behind Children in Rural Areas", the detection rate of psychological problems of left-behind children is as high as 57%, showing a stronger sense of loneliness, higher depression levels, lower self-esteem levels, etc., and the score of suicidal ideation is significantly higher than that of non-left-behind children.
Project Background
Based on local market research, the Information Times Psychological Volunteer Team found that the psychological problems of children in middle schools and vocational and technical schools in the urban-rural junction or suburbs of Guangzhou are much higher than those in mountainous areas. This group has been immersed in the bright lights of the city since childhood, and the parents at home have been busy with their livelihood for a long time, and the proportion of psychological problems is quite large, and even more than half of the students in the C class of the school have self-harm.
In order to help this group in depth and intervene in the psychological problems of this group, the Information Times Psychological Volunteer Team launched the "Heart Seeking Island to Protect Children's Hearts" project, which is an affiliated project of the Guangdong Wheat Field Education Foundation [Heart Seeking Island].
As the only psychological project in the field of psychological support that allows psychological counselors to give students on-site systematic classes, the "Heart Seeking Island to Protect Children's Hearts" project adheres to the concept of "influencing people with people", trains professional psychological counselors, and leads psychological group counseling classes through psychological counselors, so that students who are in psychological difficulties can feel understanding, tolerance, and acceptance, and take the initiative to come to the counseling room for help. Help the school to build a campus psychological support system, and look forward to allowing children to become their own psychological counselors through a series of courses of cognitive behavioral therapy.
Project implementation
Since 2019, the "Heart Island Guardian Children's Heart" project has been going on for five years to further promote on-the-ground and systematic psychological counseling for adolescents and children, which is divided into the following aspects:
Cultivating professional psychological counselors and in-depth intervention: Through recruitment, cultivate a group of excellent psychological counselors to teach the work, so that psychological counselors can establish a sense of security with students while attending classes, so that students with psychological disabilities can feel understood and loved, and take the initiative to ask for help in the counseling room after class. The cultivation part is mainly aimed at volunteers who are interested in psychological teaching in Guangzhou, and is divided into three parts: 1) through the public welfare Yingzi Reading Club, leading volunteers to read a psychological book every month; 2) Participate in 5 sessions of parent-child coexistence; 3) Learn 12 professional psychological genre courses to improve the professional ability of psychological counseling, etc.; Carry out professional group counseling courses: design psychological group counseling courses for students, so that students can learn psychological knowledge, feel the sense of security given by the psychological teacher in the classroom, be willing to come to the psychological counseling room to solve psychological problems, and be willing to ask the psychological teacher for help in the most desperate time. The group auxiliary courses involve: self-awareness, problem-solving skills, interpersonal relationships, emotional adjustment, psychological disorder identification and coping, time management, etc.; Set up a psychological salon: empower school teachers and parents, and use the school theory of psychological counseling to help them better face psychological problems such as children's growth and family relationships; Create a "Spiritual Growth Handbook": Based on cognitive behavioral therapy, create a "Spiritual Growth Handbook" suitable for students to help them become their own "psychological counselors"; Listing psychological counseling rooms to carry out one-on-one psychological counseling services: Formulate corresponding psychological counseling services in the schools at the project sites and carry out "one-to-one" psychological counseling services; The professional team continues to take care of the psychological training of school teachers: professional psychological training for school psychology teachers and teachers who are interested in psychology to empower teachers. Although the project team will withdraw from the school in the future, the project team will continue to empower and answer questions through the WeChat community; Publish psychological tweets to create an inclusive social space: Through relevant publicity platforms, we have set up official accounts in more than 150 streets in Guangzhou to popularize psychological science to people in the jurisdiction where students' daily lives are located, and create more inclusive and accepting social spaces for children in need.
Practical examples
Case 1: Half a year ago, a student posted a WeChat message late at night saying that his stepfather had sexually assaulted
Late one night last summer, the teacher of the Heart Island Guardian Childlike Volunteer Teacher received a message from a girl from the school she used to teach, and the first sentence was: Teacher, I really want my uncle to divorce my mother! The girl said that her uncle was her stepfather, who had been squinting at her since last year, and even installed a camera in the bathroom, and when she told her mother about this, her mother just asked her stepfather to remove the camera and told her not to go outside and talk nonsense, because the home was "ugly". Since then, her stepfather has often done things to her, touching her whole body, and she told her mother about it, but her mother said that she was complaining willfully. Desperate, I hope the counselor can give her some guidance.
After calming her emotions, the counselor taught her the basic methods to protect herself at this stage: first, don't let yourself be alone with her stepfather at home, if there are only two of them left in the house, you should find an opportunity to avoid other female classmates anyway; Second, look for social resources that you can rely on, such as an older sister who works in Guangzhou and an older sister who is already married, and strive to go to school in a different environment.
Case 2: A "naughty ghost" triple jump
Three years ago, in the primary school where he was teaching, there was a child who kept arguing every day, making the whole class annoyed him, and the teacher of the Heart Island Guardian Child's Heart saw the attitude of the whole class towards him, and also understood that the reason why this child was so noisy was actually brushing up on his sense of existence, hoping that this would attract everyone's attention and gain everyone's recognition.
In order to satisfy the child's sense of self-worth, the psychological teacher specially arranged some things for him to do in the class - such as handing out props during games, asking him to write when writing books, betting with him during games, and playing together when he lost. After a few classes, the psychological teacher intentionally or unintentionally expressed his gratitude to him in front of the whole class, guided the students to establish multiple values, and looked for the advantages of this student together. At the end of the parting period, the student promised the teacher that he would pass the exam. A month later, this student really scored 66 points, and after another month, he actually scored 84 points.
Project Effectiveness
Up to now, the "Heart Seeking Island to Protect Children's Hearts" project has established nearly 20 project sites in Guangdong, nearly 10 mature project site consultants, and nearly 200 volunteers are being cultivated, and has widely received the attention and joining of teachers and students majoring in social work, public administration, psychology and other majors in colleges and universities.
The project was selected for the second "Creation of Charity and Micro Venture Capital" Guangzhou Community Public Welfare Micro Venture Capital sponsored by the Guangzhou Charity Association and Guangdong Agile Public Welfare Foundation, and the "Wheat Ear" Youth Public Welfare Venture Capital initiated by the Haizhu District Committee of the Communist Youth League and the Guangdong Wheat Field Education Foundation, etc., and has also been included in the pilot work of the construction of the "Youth Without Troubles" Youth Mental Health Assistance System in Haizhu District sponsored by the Haizhu District Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Haizhu District Education Bureau and the Haizhu District Health Bureau.
Next, on the one hand, the project plans to normalize the cultivation of volunteers, so that volunteers can join, train and grow at any time; On the other hand, volunteer consultation practice is normalized, so that volunteers can practice and grow in a planned way; In addition, more project sites will be expanded to benefit more children.
Media Commentary
As an important guide for students' growth, teachers are more able to help students when they encounter difficulties while teaching them well in the classroom. The "Heart Island Guardian Children's Heart" project also helps schools introduce psychological services suitable for the school, so that children's youth is not troubled. Through the study and counseling of psychology classes, children can pay more attention to their emotions and needs, and learn to care for themselves. This is of great practical significance to left-behind children and the wider range of adolescents and children.