Student Consulting Center operates ‘customized psychological quarantine consulting programs’ for freshmen and students preparing for employment
Various online group consulting programs such as art therapy, cinema therapy, and photo therapy highly popular
[June 3, 2020]
<A researcher at the YU Student Consulting Center is holding a meeting with ‘YU PEER Supporters’ students>
Psychological quarantine consulting conducted by YU (President Sur Gil-soo) to overcome the Corona Blues (COVID-19 induced depression) is receiving huge popularity among students.
The YU Student Consulting Center provides psychological quarantine consulting customized to students. It aims at providing psychological stability to students complaining of depression and stress due to the prolonging of COVID-19. The face-to-face consulting of the past have been changed to various non-face-to-face consulting programs such as by phone or video conferencing. Various online group consulting programs were opened including art therapy, cinema therapy, and photo therapy and participants will be invited until June 11. About 100 students applied to participate as of now, and the program started from June 3.
In particular, customized consulting programs per grade attracted attention. In the case of the ‘Wise College Life’ for freshmen, it is expected to be very helpful to freshmen having trouble adapting to college life being deprived of normal college life as most events including orientation, admissions ceremony, freshmen welcoming events were canceled due to COVID-19. Consulting programs for older students suffering from psychological and emotional difficulties while preparing for employment are also very popular.
The YU Student Consulting Center selected the ‘YU PEER Supporters’ and have been actively promoting the center’s programs and activities. The YU PEER Supporters made up of a total of 10 students in three teams have been producing card news, webtoons and videos to prevent the Corona Blues and suicide to share the information through the center’s homepage, official social media accounts, and the personal blogs of supporters.
The ‘Y Peer Program’ is another program using for psychological quarantine consulting. ‘Y Peer’ refers to peer-aged consultants of YU. This is a mentor-mentee program where students who completed mentor training act as consultants for other students having trouble or a hard time adapting to college life.
<Researchers at the YU Student Consulting Center are holding a seminar>
The YU Student Consulting Center has opened and is operating special online lectures. It is also working on improving the student counseling capacities of instructors by producing student consulting guidebooks and suicide crisis response manuals. In the future, plans are to find and share excellent cases on consulting and interviews of YU professors.
YU Student Consulting Center Director Lim Sung-woo said, “We expect that there are many students having psychological difficulties due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. If such students receive assistance from the experts, it will help with their mental health immensely.” He added, “There are some students who are unaware of the various programs of the Student Consulting Center or who may feel reluctant to ask for assistance. The Student Consulting Center will develop various programs that can help students and we will spare no effort in promoting and supporting it so that more students can participate.”
Meanwhile, the YU Student Consulting Center is made up of career and psychological consulting and education-related experts such as consulting psychologists, youth advisers, professional consulting teachers, and professional consultants. The Center is continuously striving to construct a crisis response system among universities in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and it is working hard to improve the mental health of students through an MOU with the Gyeongsan Mental Health Center and Daegu Youth Consulting Welfare Center.
