Online Psychological Aid Platform To Be Launched In China

An online psychological aid platform is about to be launched in China. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is already making plans to launch the online platform for psychological trauma interventions this year to overcome skills shortage.

Liu Zhengkui, researcher at the institute, and Deputy Secretary-General of China Psychological Society, announced the plan on Tuesday, saying the online platform would increase health knowledge.

Zhengkui also said that the online platform would track user symptoms, and offer consultation services with new technologies, including wearable devices, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

The platform would marshal resources about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from post-disaster psychological aid from the academy’s Institute of Psychology and the U.S. National PTSD Centre.

Since the Wenchuan Earthquake in May 2008, the academy has trained about 1,500 psychological professionals, who had alleviated the psychological wounds of nearly one million people.

But they cannot meet the needs of psychological assistance across the country.

“The online platform is expected to make up for the lack of training and professionals,’’ said Zhengkui, who also revealed a three-year training programme for professionals.

The platform would be launched at the end of this year and start by offering free services to university students.