October 22 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Zijingang Campus
Lecture Hall 537, Building 3, Hainayuan

Jane Harris

Co-Director of Student Welfare and Support Services, University of Oxford; Director of the Psychological Counseling Center

Incoming President of the Heads of University Counselling Services (HUCS) in the UK
Co-Chair of the UK Higher Education Mental Health Expert Group
UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) Accredited Psychotherapeutic Counsellor
Member of the Executive Committee, Universities and Colleges Division, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

In the past two decades, discussions about the mental health crisis among adolescents and students in the UK have become increasingly common. At the same time, the national prescription rate for antidepressants has doubled over the past ten years. Schools and universities are busy addressing the emotional and psychological needs of young people, with some educational institutions expanding the scale and scope of psychological counseling and mental health services. In this context, a trend has gradually emerged: university counseling services are increasingly being defined and understood within the narrative framework of the mental health crisis, leading to a gradual narrowing of their functions, reducing them to tools primarily reliant on diagnosis and symptom alleviation. Jane's lecture will delve into these issues, and she invites everyone to consider: when helping young people navigate this complex and sometimes hostile world, is the mental health perspective that often pathologizes problems truly the most effective approach?