Group counseling for teenagers' mental health is a process of designing and organizing certain group activities according to the characteristics and laws of teenagers' psychological development by using professional knowledge and skills such as psychology, so as to arouse the subjective experience and feelings of group members, thus having a positive impact on their psychological state and improving their mental health level. It is based on the characteristics of teenagers' psychological development, based on teenagers' psychological needs, focusing on students' own growth and cultivating teenagers' healthy psychology as the main line. It is an effective way of adolescent mental health consultation and has a unique position in adolescent mental health consultation.
(A) group counseling activities, emphasizing subjective experience, students love it.
Teenagers are in a period of psychological and physical development. They are faced with influences and challenges from schools, families and society. Their psychological ability is relatively weak and they have little experience in dealing with various problems. Under the influence of various factors, their cognition, behavior and thoughts can easily develop in a more positive or negative direction. At the same time, the self-awareness and self-management level of teenagers in this period are in a chaotic period. Although they have a strong sense of autonomy, their ability of self-control and management is relatively weak. If you are just being reasonable, it is wrong to say "idolization". "Famous brands" should be combined with their own economic strength, and "being cool" is worthless. How many students will listen?
Group counseling focuses on various interesting activities, emphasizing students' active participation and experience in the activities. Its playfulness makes teenagers more willing to participate, reduces the resistance to the "education" of schools and parents, and also reduces the pressure when they encounter real problems in actual study and life, so that they can more naturally show their specialties, give play to their abilities and experience the experiences and sentiments that may be brought during the activities.
(B) group counseling to meet the psychological development needs of students of the same age.
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of mental health. In the process of study, life, interpersonal communication and self-cognition, we will encounter all kinds of psychological troubles or problems. If some problems are not solved in time and effectively, they will have a negative impact on the healthy growth of teenagers, and even make them have psychological obstacles or mental diseases. Therefore, the primary goal of mental health consultation is to prevent the emergence of psychological problems or troubles of teenagers, cultivate their good mental health quality and improve their mental health level. Generally speaking, the psychological development of teenagers at the same age level is basically at the same level, and the problems and puzzles encountered basically show a universality and regularity. Therefore, it is entirely possible to promote the overall development level of psychological quality of teenagers of the same age through group counseling with classes as the unit. It can be seen that group psychological counseling can promote the positive development of the psychological quality of teenagers of the same age in a planned and purposeful way, and prevent psychological troubles, psychological obstacles or mental diseases that may occur due to lack of attention and guidance. This function is difficult for other forms of mental health consultation to undertake.
(C) Group counseling creates an interactive and harmonious atmosphere for students' mental health development.
Judging from the influence of group psychological counseling on teenagers' psychological development, it should not be a serious and inflexible sermon or condescending admonition, but a communication between hearts, a friendly relationship of mutual trust and help between people, and a harmonious atmosphere full of human nature. From the perspective of human nature, everyone has "the need to identify, the motivation to belong, and the desire to be loved". As an interactive process, group counseling is carried out in an atmosphere of democracy, acceptance and trust, ensuring that everyone enjoys the same personal dignity and the same right to express their thoughts and feelings, which can cultivate teenagers' high sense of self-identity and collective belonging. In addition, the group provides teenagers with a microcosm of the real society, enabling them to connect the insights gained from the group with their daily life experiences, and try to learn or change their behaviors in an atmosphere of security and trust. Therefore, group counseling is a "safe base" for teenagers' mental health development and an unforgettable "spiritual feast" for teenagers' growth. A lot of practical experience also shows that when teenagers receive group counseling in class, their emotional experience and spiritual shock are unimaginable in individual counseling, theme class meetings, classroom teaching, lectures on mental health theory and other occasions.
(D) Group counseling has opened up a special channel to convey the rich connotation of mental health counseling.
Judging from the contents of school mental health counseling, it involves all aspects of teenagers' psychological development, such as the development of self-awareness, the development of learning potential, emotional adjustment, interpersonal communication training, teenagers' psychological adaptation, career guidance, group cohesion and team spirit training. Most of these counseling contents can be embodied in individual counseling, but group cohesion, team spirit and other contents can not be realized in individual counseling, and group counseling provides a special channel for the embodiment of these contents. In addition, mental health consultation must be geared to all teenagers, aiming at promoting the formation of good psychological quality and the improvement of mental health level of all teenagers. However, to achieve this goal, it is far from enough to rely solely on individual counseling. Because individual counseling is a "one-on-one" method, it is usually aimed at teenagers who already have psychological confusion or general psychological problems, and most teenagers with good mental health can't benefit from it. They need to constantly improve their mental health level to cope with all kinds of situations they may face in the future. Group counseling is a "one-to-many" mental health counseling method. Through a series of activities, many teenagers can benefit at the same time and gain psychological growth, which provides a broad stage for implementing the holistic principle of mental health consultation.
(5) Professional design and well-organized group counseling to protect the growth of young people.
Group psychological counseling focuses on the needs of teenagers' healthy growth. Its fundamental purpose is to let teenagers experience themselves and understand others and society by actively participating in professional design and well-organized activities, so as to gradually master their own thoughts, emotions and behaviors and lay a solid foundation for truly going to society and becoming an independent social subject. It can be seen that effective group psychological counseling can escort the healthy growth and future development of teenagers.
The cultivation of mental health quality and ability is a long-term process, which can not be achieved simply by preaching or indoctrination, let alone by explaining one or two specific events or analyzing cases. By providing various activity situations that reflect teenagers' real life and learning reality, group counseling enables teenagers to be involved in it, and gradually learn and develop healthy psychological quality under the good guidance of counselors in the process of interacting with others. It can be seen that the activities in group psychological counseling are a carrier, which carries the professional purpose of bringing good psychological influence to teenagers. It is necessary to create special environmental conditions and group atmosphere for the participants and achieve special activity goals. Therefore, some people say that "group counseling is to design a well-intentioned trap, and then introduce teenagers into it, so that they can grow up unconsciously", and this "design" and "introduction" are professional processes.