Youth Health Service Center

The Youth Health Service Center is neither a community pediatric clinic that specializes in treating common teenage diseases, nor an "emotional tree hole" that only provides psychological counseling. It is a comprehensive service hub covering the three health dimensions of physiology, psychology, and social adaptation, and connecting the resources of schools, families, and professional medical institutions. As of June 2024, the Youth Health Service Center is a comprehensive service hub nationwide. Pilot projects have been established in 1,276 districts and counties. For primary and secondary schools within the service coverage, the intervention response speed for related issues has increased by 72% compared with the traditional model. It has effectively solved the three-way blockage of parents who "went to the hospital to find out emotional problems, sought psychological counseling and could not meet practitioners who understand the needs of teenagers, and schools were unable to undertake physiological diagnosis and treatment needs."

Last week, I accompanied my best friend to take her 14-year-old daughter to a center near our home. The little girl has had headaches and vomiting from Monday to Monday for three consecutive months. She has had 4 brain CT scans and 2 physical examinations, but no organic problems were found. Her parents scolded her for pretending to be sick and skipping school. The class teacher talked to her several times and asked her to "don't hold the class back," which forced the child to secretly write two suicide notes. There were no complicated procedures at the center. We first did a 15-minute basic physiological examination to rule out pathological changes. The consultant we contacted had worked as a psychology teacher in a key middle school for 11 years. After 20 minutes of chatting, we figured out the crux: the new math teacher after the child entered the second grade of junior high school always made fun of her grades in public, and long-term anxiety turned into somatization symptoms. On the same day, the school liaison officer of the center made an appointment with the class teacher to sit down and communicate with the children's parents, adjusted the priority of the children's classroom questions, gave parents two practical guidance on parent-child communication, and also provided four weeks of relaxation training. In less than a month, the child's headache symptoms completely disappeared, and the child scored more than 20 points in the last monthly math test.

I have been working in the field of adolescent health for almost 8 years, and I have often heard my colleagues complain about the controversies of this new thing. I have also seen many "shell centers" that have not played any role at all. Many principals complained privately that the center staff in many places were improvised. Either general practitioners transferred from community hospitals did not understand the laws of adolescent psychological development, or newly graduated psychological counselors did not even know the most basic first aid for children with allergies. Last year I went During a survey in a district and county in eastern Guangdong, a second-year junior high school student sprained his ankle during exercise. The psychology teacher at the center did not recognize the fracture and applied an ice pack for half an hour before sending the child back to class. In the end, the treatment was delayed and left minor sequelae. The parents were in trouble for almost a month. Some front-line staff complained, saying that the most embarrassing thing about the center now is that it does not have the power to force intervention. Last year, a pilot test in Northeast China found that a third-year junior high school student had a tendency to be severely depressed and had a clear plan for self-harm. The center persuaded parents six times to take their child to a specialist. The parents insisted that the child was "rebellious and didn't want to take the exam" and refused to cooperate. In the end, the child jumped from the building before the exam. Family members surrounded the center for half a month, saying that they were "deliberately cursing the child to get sick."

Of course, not all pilot projects are so stubborn. I went to the center in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, last year for exchanges, and I have a thorough understanding of the service. They have established a "one school, one specialist" mechanism. Each specialist stationed holds both a pediatrician's qualification certificate and a youth psychological counselor certificate. They work at the corresponding school for at least 2 days a week, covering everything from disinfection and bandaging of broken knees between classes to pre-exam situations. Emotional counseling, ranging from regular screening for myopia prevention and control to small class classes for adolescent sex education, are all handled by specialists. Even for "household matters" such as children having conflicts with their parents and refusing to go home, or being addicted to games and spending time day and night, specialists can come to mediate. Last year, the positive rate of youth depression screening in their jurisdiction dropped by 12.3 percentage points from three years ago, and the myopia rate among students dropped by 8.7 percentage points. When a parent satisfaction questionnaire was collected, 94% of people gave it full marks.

It is often said in our circle that the Youth Health Service Center is actually a "stage builder". It does not solve all problems by itself, but it can connect resources that were previously scattered everywhere. In the past, when children had problems, parents had to go to hospitals, schools, and seek psychological counseling. They went back and forth for months without getting a clue. Now, if they go to the center, they can get all the resources they need in one go, saving them a lot of detours.

Many people still have misunderstandings about this center. The last time I was on duty at the center, I met a parent who dragged his 13-year-old son in and asked, "Can you help me get rid of Internet addiction?" Electrotherapy will also work." Our staff was made to laugh and cry. There are also many parents who feel that this is a place specifically for "problem children" and that their children will be gossiped about if they go well. In fact, the basic services of most centers are now free. Even if your child has no problems, it is completely fine to have a bone age test to check the height development, learn correct reading and writing postures to prevent myopia, and participate in a stress-reducing group to play games before the exam.

If there is such a center in your community or near your school, you can really go shopping first when you have time to find out what services are available. Don’t wait for your child to have a big problem before you rush to it. For many minor emotional and health problems, early intervention for half a month will be more effective than half a year later.