Shanghai’s mental health service model is innovated again. During the spring equinox, all things sprout. With the theme of "Nourishing the Four Seasons and Enchanting the Mind", an art therapy and popular science activity on the spiritual growth of children and adolescents was held at the Shanghai Theater Academy. At the scene, the city's music and art therapy standardization work was officially launched. This is one of the key measures since the establishment of the Shanghai Medical Doctors Association's Music and Art Therapy Special Committee.
This event brought together experts and scholars in the fields of medicine, art, education and other fields, and attracted nearly 300 primary and secondary school psychology teachers, educators and citizens from various districts to participate. As the vice president of the Music and Art Healing Committee of the Shanghai Medical Doctors Association, erhu performer Ma Xiaohui brings an immersive healing music performance, leading everyone to embark on a spiritual journey through music that blends medicine and art.
For a long time, due to the lack of unified standards in the field of art therapy, there have been problems such as superficiality and insufficient professional support. The launch of standardization construction will pave a professional channel for the development of art therapy, making art therapy truly an effective support for the mental health of children and adolescents. As the vice-chairman of the special committee, Wang Yong, dean of the Shanghai University School of Music, detailed the standardization work plan, making it clear that he will sort out international cutting-edge experience, take root in local Chinese practices, define standards for professional healing practices and skill levels, and gradually implement healing norms in the fields of music, dance, drama, calligraphy and painting, and promote art healing from perceptual experience to scientific intervention.
Professor Xu Jianguang, vice president of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and honorary president of the Shanghai Medical Doctor Association, said that the integration of art and medicine has opened up a new path for protecting children's innocence. He called on all parties in society to gather forces to weave a warm network to protect the mental health of children and adolescents, and build a more complete mental health support system.
In order to adapt to the spiritual growth rhythm of children and adolescents of different ages, this event has four major chapters based on the four seasons. Targeting preschool children, primary school students, junior high school students, and late adolescent groups between 15 and 18 years old, doctors from many tertiary hospitals in Shanghai jointly bring a set of art therapy "demonstration courses".
Xie Bin, chairman of the Music and Art Therapy Special Committee of the Shanghai Medical Doctors Association, said that the core of art therapy is not to cultivate artists, but to allow children to become themselves better under the protection of art and build a bridge to the heart. "The special committee brings together professional forces from all fields in Shanghai to serve as both a professional supporter of children and adolescents' mental health and a warm lamplighter, using the light of art to illuminate the hidden corners of children's hearts."
This event is an important step taken by Shanghai in innovating its mental health service model. The Shanghai Medical Doctors Association's Music and Art Healing Special Committee stated that it will bring together "medicine" and "art" forces to promote art therapy into hospitals, campuses, and communities, so that professional healing services can become a new force in the construction of the city's "emotional economy."
