Located outside the Red River dike, Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong, Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School (Hong Ha Ward, Hanoi ) said that her school is a "difficult area" of the capital with many students from coastal areas and difficult circumstances.
Although it is a school in a "difficult area," for many years, Chuong Duong Secondary School has been one of the few public schools in Hanoi to conduct psychological testing, assessment, and screening for all students.
Every student is listened to, understood and supported.
“The school considers that taking care of students’ mental health is as important as improving the quality of teaching and learning. We want every student to feel listened to, understood and supported in a timely manner,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong shared.
Ms. Hong said that the School Psychology Program was implemented with professional cooperation from the Vietking Applied Psychology Center, aiming at 100% of students being screened to detect early psychological, behavioral and learning difficulties. The school also closely coordinates with homeroom teachers and parents, forming a "connecting triangle" of family - school - experts to effectively support students.
The activities of the School Psychology Department are carried out in many ways: from consulting, prevention, early detection and intervention, building happy schools to evaluation for improvement in the next stage.
Specifically, in consulting activities, psychological experts will provide 1:1 or group support for emotional, behavioral, learning skills, and career guidance issues, and will also organize consultations for teachers and parents on how to identify and intervene promptly.
For prevention, the school organizes seminars on life skills, emotional management, school violence prevention, internet safety, drugs and e-cigarettes for each grade at least 2 topics/year.
Psychologists advise students. (Photo: NTCC)
To detect and intervene early, the school organizes screening assessments for students at the beginning of the school year, closely monitors cases showing signs of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and bullying to have timely intervention or referral solutions.
To build a happy school, the school trains teachers in coping skills, shares experience in handling situations; creates parent support groups and sharing forums.
Every year, the School Psychology Department compiles data, keeps consultation records confidential, reports periodically to the school board, and recommends improvements.
During the 2024-2025 school year, the School Psychology Department of Chuong Duong Secondary School conducted 180 consultations, supporting 69 students, of which 42 cases showed significant improvement. In addition, the school screened 198 sixth grade students and discovered 91 students who needed intervention at different levels, from which a separate support plan was developed.
In the 2025-2026 school year, Chuong Duong Secondary School continues to implement the School Psychology program with many new features, aiming to build a safe and friendly learning environment, helping students develop comprehensively both intellectually and emotionally.
The school expanded individual counseling activities, organized additional extracurricular topics, increased communication to raise awareness, and expanded cooperation with psychological experts.
“A happy school not only has modern facilities but also needs to be a place where students feel safe, respected and loved. School Psychology activities are the key to realizing that goal,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong affirmed.
The secret to getting students to open up
Ms. Hong said that the implementation of the School Psychology program at Chuong Duong Secondary School has many advantages due to the consensus of all staff, teachers, students and parents. The school has a separate psychology room for students with dedicated and enthusiastic psychology experts.
The school has a psychology room but no psychological counselor on staff. (Photo: NTCC)
However, to implement this activity requires a great effort of the school when facing a series of difficulties: No money, no staff. The first problem is funding when there is no source of budget for this activity. The school must mobilize from many sources, including sponsors. Without a staff of psychological counselors, the school must rely on experts with a spirit of support.
Also because of the support of outside experts, the counseling activity only takes place twice a week, on Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons. To help students proactively access counseling activities, the school's psychological counseling schedule is posted outside the school gate with a QR code link so students can register for a consultation with an expert. According to Ms. Hong, this not only helps students increase their initiative but also helps them feel more secure about confidentiality and privacy.
Assessing the Ministry of Education and Training's policy of establishing a school counselor staff for schools as a very humane policy, showing concern for students' mental health, Ms. Hong said that recruitment will be very difficult because supply cannot meet demand.
The consultation schedule with QR code for registration is posted at the school gate for students to register themselves. (Photo: NTCC)
Sharing her experience from school practice, Ms. Hong said that to effectively carry out school psychological counseling, it is necessary to build a solid organizational foundation: have a separate counseling room, a team of well-trained teachers or have a collaborating psychological expert.
“This is a prerequisite for students to trust and come to us when they encounter difficulties,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong.
In addition, a principle emphasized by the Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School is to respect and protect personal information. Counselors listen and suggest ways for students to find solutions to problems. When necessary, the school connects with parents, medical professionals, and authorities to provide timely support.
According to Ms. Hong, school counseling does not stop at personal support but must be proactive in prevention. Therefore, it is very important to regularly organize seminars on life skills, sex education, school violence prevention, safety on social networks, etc. so that students can protect themselves and adjust their behavior.
“We also regularly survey, summarize, and learn from experience to make our activities more and more practical, closely related to the actual needs of students. It can be said that school counseling is only truly effective when combining three factors: professionalism - initiative - close coordination between school, family and society,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong./.
Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/truong-cong-lap-vung-kho-cua-ha-noi-to-chuc-sang-loc-tam-ly-cho-100-hoc-sinh-2025112009120106.htm
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