In order to make the freshmen feel comfortable, develop ‘at home’ feeling towards college life and to enhance their collective consciousness, mental health center of Jinan University conducted group counseling for freshmen. Three professional counselors were invited to offer group counseling to the freshmen of International School.

The group counseling consisted of three sessions. Counselors made an elaborate plan and communicated with the freshmen effectively. The main purpose of the first session was to provide students an opportunity to know each other. Counselors encouraged students to interact with their classmates and asked them to share personal experiences and hobbies with each other. After that, the students were required to take communication and interaction a little more deeply with involvement. They interviewed each other, and even started to share and comment jokes.

After the first week, the second session was organized the following week. The second session involved two major games, which were named as the “cotton candy” and “self portrait”. This session was designed with a purpose to help freshmen acquire more knowledge about themselves, their friends and thus exhibit improvement of interaction.

The theme of the third session was “three-dimensional ego”. This session stared with a warm-up game. The freshmen were required to draw a picture, namely “life line”, on which they needed to mark out important events and people in their lives so that they could share the notable experiences with their classmates.At the end of the session, students gave best wishes to each other. Counselors summarized the group counseling and pointed out the great improvement that the students have achieved.

The counselors tried their best to interact with the freshmen, answer their questions, and wipe off their mental pressure during the group counseling. Because of this experience, both boys and girls felt that international school is not only a school but also a family. Obvious to all eyes, the students have gained a lot of understanding and behavior details of their batch mates. And it is firmly believed that the group counseling is bound to make a positive effect on their college life!   

Edited by Andy and Karthi