Mental Health Service Center

It is a professional psychological support platform for all ordinary people of all ages. 80% of its services are suitable for healthy people with daily emotional distress and development confusion. It is not only people with "psychological problems and need to take medicine" who need to go.

When I was working at the district center last week, I met a sophomore girl who had been wandering at the door for 20 minutes with her schoolbag strap in hand. The first thing she said when she came in was so panicked that her voice trembled: "I'm not depressed. I just can't sleep lately. I feel like I can't pass any exam. Can I come in and sit down?" In fact, this is also the misunderstanding of most people about this place - when I first entered the industry, I thought The visitors who came here all carried medical certificates from the hospital, but the first visitor I received was a 62-year-old Uncle Zhang. His grandson was going to school out of town. He was so empty that he didn’t know who to talk to. He sat there and chatted with me for an hour about the past of taking his grandson fishing for lobsters. When he left, he patted his legs and said, "I feel much better." It was then that I realized that providing an emotional outlet is one of the core values of this place.

What’s interesting is that mental health service centers in different scenarios take completely different paths. Behind them are actually the differences in the concepts of different schools. Most psychology centers in colleges and universities tend to focus on the cognitive-behavioral school, focusing on solving practical problems in a short and quick way. For the sophomore girl I just mentioned, the consultant first adjusted her sleep rhythm and taught her a breathing stabilization method three minutes before the exam. Within two weeks, she reported that her sleep was much better, and she no longer went blank as soon as she got the test paper. Centers in the community prefer to use the ideas of family therapy and expressive art therapy. When encountering conflicting couples or quarrelsome parents and children, there is no need to sit and talk, but they can play on a sand table and draw two paintings together. After the emotions are relaxed first, the knots will naturally be resolved much easier.

To be honest, of course, the industry is still arguing about the positioning of public mental health service centers. One group believes that we should first make it more inclusive, even if the counselors are less experienced, and lower the threshold first, so that ordinary people dare to step in. It is better than everyone holding back and not talking about it until problems arise; Nowadays, most centers are also looking for a balance. In the place where I stay, every case taken by a novice counselor is reviewed weekly by a supervisor with more than 10 years of experience. If there is a situation that requires medication intervention, the patient can go through the joint referral channel with the psychiatric department of a tertiary hospital on the spot, and there will basically be no "delays".

What many people don’t know is that the services at the center go beyond one-on-one consultations. What impressed me most was the "Emotional Grocery" group support every Wednesday night. 996 programmers came to complain about the product manager changing requirements eight times a day. A retired aunt came to complain that her husband couldn't go home fishing every day. There were also children in the fourth grade of elementary school who sneaked in and said that their mother had paid for the supplement. There were so many practice classes that he didn't even have time to play Ultraman cards. No one would say you were "hypocritical" or "poor under pressure" when you were sitting here. Last time, the programmer burst into tears halfway through the complaint, saying that he was afraid of being considered useless even when he told his girlfriend that he was stressed, but here he dared to cry. There are also professional normative psychological assessments, which are not the metaphysical questions on the Internet that "test whether you are depressed." After the test, the consultant will explain it to you one by one, and will never label you casually. Last month, a girl working in operations tested very high for anxiety. In fact, she stayed up for the 618 event for a whole month, which was not an anxiety disorder at all. The consultant gave her several muscle relaxation techniques that she can do when fishing. Half a month later, she came over to give you a box of wedding candies, saying that she could get off work on time and fall in love.

The center was doing its annual return visit a while ago. A young man who failed in the postgraduate entrance examination last year and came for three consultations said that he came ashore this year and would come in to say hello when he passed by the center and bring two cups of iced milk tea to the consultant on duty. If you pass by a mental health service center near your home one day, don't hesitate, just open the door. There are probably stress relief balls and Lego blocks in the reception area, and the sofas are all soft. Even if you don't do any consultation, just come in and grab a cup of hot water and sit for a while, and no one will say anything to you.

To put it bluntly, this place has never been a "special place". It is just a small room for people who have accumulated a little dust in their hearts. They can slowly clean it up. Just like you go to the community hospital to get cold medicine when you have a cold. There is no need to have a fever of 39 degrees before going. If you are panicked, you can come at any time.