On April 20th, a brand new Student Counselling Service officially opened at International Campus, Zhejiang. The service aims to provide support to students and staff with mental health and happiness.
Staff and students gathered for the opening ceremony and to listen to two lectures on mental health on Friday. Associate Prof. Zhu Yihong, from the Mental Health Education and Counselling Centre of Zhejiang University, gave a lecture called “Be Here, Be Happy.”
Prof. Zhu described that happiness is a feeling we have and that being a 'good' person is important to our happiness. She listed seven ways to help promote happiness; 'have good relationships', 'accept yourself', 'be grateful', 'be hopeful', 'here and now', 'be known rather than excepted' and 'stand in a different position'.
She also particularly described the challenge for international students: "This is a challenging time for international students, coming to a new country, without family, with different culture and pressures. Adapting to new circumstances can be hard."
Associate Dean Zhang Jun, No.4 Hospital of Haining gave the second lecture in Chinese, ‘Health comes from your Heart’. Mr Zhang Jun said that people's physical and mental health is influenced by mental activity and discussed what mental health is.
The establishment of Student Counselling Centre is supported by the Mental Health Education and Counselling Centre of Zhejiang University main campus, the Health and Family Planning Bureau of Haining City, the No. 4 Hospital of Haining and The University of Edinburgh.Students will be able to book appointments on a Tuesday evening or Friday afternoon and meet with specialist counselling staff.