Mental Health Support & Education for Chinese Kids

Do you look forward to falling in love? What do you think falling in love will be like?  These are some questions, Xiaochun, a teacher at Tuanjie Town Middle School in Yunnan asked students during a CWEF-sponsored mental health class this September. 

Teacher Teng talked in depth with students about how to have healthy romantic relationships.  Together they discussed the difference between liking someone and loving someone:

• Liking: Refers to mutual empathy, which includes a positive assessment, appreciation and respect for each other. 

• Loving: Includes a need for intimacy, dependency, and a tendency to help each other. It also has a sense of exclusively loving that one person. 

 The class also discussed 5 principles of healthy romance:

1. Expectations: Clarify the emotional expectations for yourself and others. 
2. Timing: early adulthood (18-25 years old) is an important time for establishing intimacy, students should reserve their best selves for the right person. 
3. Distance: students discussed four types of interpersonal distance, so that they can understand the importance of maintaining appropriate interpersonal boundaries 
4. Capacity to Love: students were encouraged to first learn to love themselves, and develop the ability to understand and work well with others before seeking out a romantic relationship
5. Alignment of Values: students reflected of the importance of sharing the same values with a significant other 

Concluding Message:

Always believe in love and look forward to it; have the confidence to love yourself, and also cultivate the ability to love others. Love can be perfect or have regrets. Whether it is the luck of love at first sight or the sadness of unrequited love, both are part of youth. It is hoped that students can face the gains and losses in relationships with a positive attitude, learn to grow through love, and welcome the beautiful future of being well-matched with a better version of themselves. 

THANK YOU for partnering with CWEF and supporting the mental health of young people in China!  Because of you, these students have a better chance of enjoying healthier romantic relationships and making wise choices about love both now and in the future.

Links:

• Meet a Chinese student that received a CWEF scholarship.
• Miss the last update? Read it by clicking here.
• See the impact donors like you have had through CWEF over time.