Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

It’s a limited edition!!

"Cough, cough, I understand, studying is important."

"How about this, I’ll register you first, okay? Come whenever you have time, once a week... or once a month is fine, just let me know in advance."

"How about I consider you a part-time coach and pay you for the hours... hey, hey, don’t leave, Xiao Nan? Dahui!"

Ignoring the ear man boss who gestured like Erkang to stop him, Nan Zhubin and Chonghui turned to the locker room to get ready for a shower.

It was at this moment that Nan Zhubin’s phone flashed.

Splash——

The sound of the shower stopped, and then came the hum of the hairdryer.

When Chonghui came out, he saw Nan Zhubin blinking at his phone screen.

"I’m done blow-drying, your turn... what’s wrong?" Seeing the junior’s expression, Chonghui felt something was off.

"Senior, I think you don’t need to help me ask about the project anymore." Nan Zhubin said as he showed his phone screen to Chonghui, "The teacher found one for me."

[Bai Qinghua: There’s a project, to be an on-site psychological consultant at our school’s affiliated mental health center for six months, what do you think?]

[Bai Qinghua: Never mind, are you being dragged to the gym by Dahui? Come to my office after you’re done for a detailed chat.]

[Nan Zhubin: Okay.]

Chonghui was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised an eyebrow: "Why does this notification look so familiar to me?"

Nan Zhubin seemed to realize something and switched the chat box to the school’s chat group.

[Counselor Zhang: This semester, our school’s affiliated mental health center has fifteen intern slots, second-year and third-year master’s students can focus on this, limited slots, those interested contact me.]

Chonghui touched his chin: "But this is recruiting interns, and the teacher asks you to be an on-site psychological consultant..."

Nan Zhubin suddenly thought of something: "Senior, wasn’t Chen Lizhou doing diagnostics at that place before? And some visitors from Tongping Software Company who need medication intervention, they were all referred there, right?"

Chonghui nodded.

Nan Zhubin made a decision: "Then let’s go and ask the teacher what’s the situation first!"

...

Apart from recommending Chen Lizhou to get a diagnostic report, Nan Zhubin’s last contact with the hospital’s psychology and psychiatry departments was in Jiangdu.

At that time... he had many criticisms of those places. Either they just prescribed medicine, or they performed an evaluation and gave a diagnosis, almost without any healing effect for the visitor, or rather the patient.

"But our mental health center is different," Bai Qinghua said.

In the small room, seeing Nan Zhubin and Chonghui arrive, he reluctantly pressed pause on the computer and put the controller aside.

Too lazy to open the window to let in some light, he directly turned on all the lights, instantly flooding the room with colorful light pollution.

Chonghui, skillfully, found a drawer and made two cups of black coffee for himself and Nan Zhubin.

"..." Then he just stared at Bai Qinghua.

"Our school’s affiliated hospital, though it’s called a ’hospital,’ is actually just a campus clinic, where minor ailments don’t need to be treated, and major ones can’t be treated, mainly for the convenience of students and some older relatives."

Bai Qinghua spoke bluntly.

After all, Beidu Normal University is not a school with a very strong medical program.

"But our school’s psychology department is ranked number one in the country, so the psychology department of the campus clinic is developing well. Later, they simply recruited a few psychiatrists, found a separate place, and set up a mental health center."

Bai Qinghua explained the story.

"In recent years, our Jingwei’s entire treatment process has become very standardized."

Bai Qinghua recounted with pride, clearly having contributed a lot to this.

"First-time patients register online, usually to chat with the outpatient psychiatrist for ten to twenty minutes to get a basic understanding of the situation."

"For patients with somatization, they’ll be given an order for heart rate, thyroid function tests, etc., checked nearby; it’s not that complicated for others, they can directly take a psychological assessment, and just go to the next door."

"Once the quantitative and objective assessment scores are out, they’ll be combined with the outpatient doctor’s consultation to judge whether the patient needs medication or a combination of psychological therapy for intervention."

"Psychiatrists with a medical background handle the outpatient clinics, and those with a psychology background, after training and onboarding, handle psychological therapy."

"This whole process is still very standard and effective," Bai Qinghua said contentedly, "in recent years, the reviews have been consistently good, and it’s even being promoted externally."

Nan Zhubin nodded: "If that’s the case, why is there still a need for on-site psychological consultants? And I saw that our counselor also posted an internship recruitment notice in the group, are these two the same?"

"No, they aren’t." Bai Qinghua waved his hand broadly.

He took the canned Coke beside him, sipping it like tasting tea.

"Let’s first talk about why on-site psychological consultants are needed... it’s because the reviews are so good."

"Not only from Beidu, but patients and visitors from many neighboring provinces and cities are also coming."

"The hospital doesn’t have enough people. Don’t even mention formally employed doctors, even contractual workers are now working non-stop."

Saying this, Bai Qinghua sighed: "Ever since the reputation improved, Jingwei has been conducting training courses to train off-the-books consultants, and I occasionally go to give lectures."

"Besides that... our school’s interns are actually there to supplement the manpower, to do some paperwork, or psychological assessments, work they can handle."

"But even so, there’s still not enough manpower there."

Even though Bai Qinghua himself runs a psychological consultation company, he just lamented that the mental health center wasn’t big enough to accept more psychiatric patients and visitors, despite essentially competing for business.

"So they came to me for help, wanting to find some experienced psychological consultants to come to the rescue."

"But—" Bai Qinghua sighed, "it’s hard to find."

"Is it hard to find?" Nan Zhubin asked.

"Do you know how much they charge for one consultation?" Bai Qinghua countered.

Without waiting for Nan Zhubin to guess, Bai Qinghua answered his own question: "One hundred and fifty an hour. Regardless of whether they’re a Beginner Therapist just starting out or an Advanced Therapist with thousands of hours of experience, it’s the same price."

This surprised Nan Zhubin enough to arch his eyebrows.

In Beidu, a seasoned consultant with thousands of hours, the institutional charge per hour is almost equivalent to the length of the consultation.

Moreover, with these credentials, income from consultations is actually a small fraction.

Nan Zhubin could understand why Bai Qinghua was having trouble finding help. Doing the work of an experienced psychological consultant while earning the salary of a consulting assistant.

If it were a doctor’s position within the establishment, one could put up with it.

But...

"So even my own company’s people are hard to call on," Bai Qinghua said, "As for the project group, either they can’t handle things independently yet, or they’re really too busy."

Bai Qinghua glanced at Chonghui.

"Thinking it over, you’re the only one I can ask."

Massive amounts of consultation, but low fees, it’s a classic case of much work, little pay.

Will Nan Zhubin go?

"...If I go, what about classes?" Nan Zhubin asked.

"All can be excused." Bai Qinghua decisively stated, "You submit a request, I’ll approve... No, let Dahui submit the request, he’s more familiar with it."

Chonghui pointed to himself, another task for him?

"I definitely wouldn’t do this for other students, but for you, it doesn’t really matter if you attend first-year master’s classes, as long as you submit assignments on time and earn the credits."

"...No, wait, political science classes still have to be attended." Bai Qinghua reconsidered and added, "But that’s only one class a week, not a big issue."

"I’ve also told them that people from my side, apart from conducting consultations over there, can also use their patient record system data; maybe we can even publish a few articles."

Bai Qinghua looked at Nan Zhubin: "What do you think?"