In the afternoon of March 10, the Mental Health Education Workstation of the School of Fine Arts hosted the Let's Go, Mood Train! --- Artistic Expression Growth Group Counselling was successfully carried out in the activity room on the first floor of the School of Fine Arts. The activity was led by Ms. Kang Liting, a psychological counselor, and a total of 14 students participated. The activity aimed to guide participants to experience different emotions in the process of growing up, to face study and life with a positive attitude, to learn mood adjustment and management, and to be the master of their own emotions.
At the beginning of the event, Ms. Kang Liting briefly introduced the content and purpose of the event, hoping that everyone could get to know themselves better and relieve stress during the event. Afterwards, Ms. Kang asked the students to write their nicknames on the table stickers and asked them to introduce themselves in turn and use colour to express themselves and their mood at the moment. Accompanied by soft music, the students enjoyed the relaxing time, adjusted themselves physically and mentally, let go of all their burdens, and started to prepare for the event.
Ms. Kang then guided everyone to close their eyes and imagine they were in a comfortable place, then she asked the students to choose the magazine they wanted to be in and select the corresponding picture in the magazine to express their mood. While closing their eyes and perceiving their moods, the students also completed their unique cut-and-paste paintings. Students cut and collaged to create their personalized clip art.
Towards the end of the event. Ms. Kang invited the students to share their paintings and express their understanding. The student nicknamed Lily said, "When I was free to draw the emotion of anger with my eyes closed, I drew a lot of short, sharp black lines and dots. And then when I went back to the associate, I was surprised to find that the combination looked like little running people, the emotion seemed to take shape as if it had run away." Elaine believes she makes her feel that all the anxiety brings about change. Bunny said, "My favourite time was when I shared the emotions behind the doodles with my classmates because it was fun while both sides were expressing and exploring themselves in contrast."
The activity ended here. Through the "cutting + collage" method, students were able to understand how to relieve their bad emotions and release their stress in life, and they also learned how to communicate and express their feelings. When they left the classroom, they had the answers to their worries and believed that they would be brave enough to face the things that had bothered them and meet a better version of themselves.
Scrapbooking display
Source：School of Fine Arts
Author: Zhu Xinyu,Liu Zhifeng
Translator: Liu Yaqi
Date: March 23, 2023
