[Interview] China Mental Health Market
Background
China’s psychological and mental counseling industry has entered a stage of rapid development. Due to China’s rapidly changing social and economic environment, the current phase has become a prone period for its psychological problems. Various age groups and professional fields have a great demand for psychological and mental counseling, especially teenagers and the elderly; Consumption power has been formed. From the perspective of purchasing power, the income level and consumption structure of developed cities in China are consistent with the rapid development of the psychological counseling industry in developed countries such as the United States. It is in the fast lane now.
The development of China’s psychological and mental consulting industry has begun to take shape. In 2018, the market size of the country’s psychological consulting industry reached 5.67 billion Chinese yuan.
Interview Record
BIO BRIDGE from Sweden has the honor to invite Melissa Zhu, the senior mental coach of Schouten China, to accept our interview and introduce the current situation of China’s psychological counseling and mental health market. We have learned a lot about the market side that we are not familiar with.
Through interviews, China’s psychological counseling and mental health are mainly divided into two categories according to the market’s needs.
- The market for commercial users
The mental health index of the main target population in this market is positive. Psychological counseling mainly serves to develop the potential of company employees or leaders and promote the workplace. Such target groups are intellectually curious and challenging people.
The current business model is mostly that Chinese counterpart companies represent as agents to cooperate with overseas companies. The foreign psychological and mental consulting companies provide courses and training programs. Training professional psychological and mental instructors are one of the benefit source, which is an educational behavior. The second is to provide psychological consulting services to company employees or individuals to achieve profitability. This kind of business model is currently the most common, with high fees, many customers, and uncomplicated business operations.
The training cost of commercial psychological counselors can be as high as 100,000 yuan, and the training time ranges from six months, one or two years. Melissa said that in most cases, companies pay for the training of employees or executives, and there are also a small number of private customers. At the end of the course, the qualified personnel will be issued a certificate issued by the International Coach Federation.
However, many psychological counseling services in the market have different methods, no uniform standards, and insufficient experience. The market is somewhat chaotic.
The sales method of this type of service: marketing activities, cut in from the enterprise side, word-of-mouth communication, Melissa said.
2. Personal mental health counseling market
As mentioned in the introduction, China is currently experiencing severe aging, low marriage rates, careers, fierce competition, family crises, and many other problems. Personal mental sub-health causes many social issues. Although the Chinese government has worked hard to put forward many suggestions and guidelines on the cause of psychological counseling, it has not been able to make much progress at present without experience and an imperfect system. Personal counseling and assistance is a very vacant market.
There is no formal business model in the initial stage of China’s private mental health market, and it is in the groping stage. The price standard is unclear. First-tier cities have resources, second-and third-tier cities have colossal demand, resources are scarce. Domestic psychologists, coaches, and instructors still lack experience and professional guidance. People with personal psychological and mental problems have a low level of consciousness and are not sufficiently aware of the concept of psychological advice. The mental illness medical system and services are decoupled from government policies.
Undesirable phenomena caused by psychological problems of teenagers and college students are common and have attracted great attention from the society. But the medical and health care system does not have a systematic mechanism to solve this problem. Therefore, the market is chaotic, the fees are different, and the measures taken by parents and schools vary considerably.
The public’s psychological counseling awareness is shallow, especially in second-third-tier cities that lack resources. There is a severe shortage of professional and experienced psychologists and professional psychological instructors in China.
Analysis
China’s mental health market is basically in its infancy. All agencies and related companies are in the exploration stage. Due to lack of experience, many copy or imitate foreign mental health operations, and business models. There are already a few foreign psychological and mental consulting companies have entered China. The main focus areas are the group customers who tend to be knowledgeable and challenged, family relationship adjustment, and career promotion. At present, the target audience of the course is mainly in first-tier cities. This type of business model has high returns, and the target group can consume. This market is only in its infancy, and there is vast space for development.
Because of the fast pace of life, high-pressure environment, uncoordinated living habits, institutional defects, and many other factors, personal mental health problems have become more prominent. Many social issues have emerged, attracting national and social attention. Such issues are particularly noticeable in young people, new social groups, and families. The suicide rate, dropout rate, school violence, divorce, depression, family disharmony, the crime rate are increasing rapidly.
There is no established management and operation system and model for such problems in the society and the state system. The government is in the stage of calling, expressing concern, and slogans. There is an urgent shortage of social psychologists and psychological counselors trained in colleges and universities. Remote areas and second-third-tier cities lack resources and help.
All the above issues bring unlimited potential and possibilities to the market, but at the same time, they are also very challenging, mainly reflected in the following points:
- Need to improve the mental health awareness and awareness of the target population
- Business promotion, charging standards, mental health guidance, treatment, and other details need to be explored and modeled, which is a groping stage
- Need to follow up, follow up, summarize results, improve methods and models for contact areas
Suggest
Develop a business model to operate according to the field of interest
1. Commercial customer base
Commercial interests are high, and it is relatively an area with relatively fast returns. It is an area worthy of attention. It is recommended to connect with existing domestic psychological and mental agents or companies.
2. Private groups
Vacancies are worth trying. The focus is on improving customer awareness. Although it is a long-term operation, early market entrants can make a lot of profits later. The initial stage focuses on exploring the market, customizing the model, and establishing a recognizable and trustworthy market brand. Brands and companies can be set individually, or can be operated cooperatively. The flexibility is relatively high。
3. Education field
It is strongly recommended to set up educational courses for psychologists and coaches’ professional training to improve knowledge. Knowledge and educational background are actual construction, which is needed by Chinese psychologists and instructors.
Conclusion
BIO BRIDGE believes that China’s mental health market has excellent development potential, and the prospects are wireless. Sweden has many years of experience in this field, a complete system, and high awareness. It is a good market opportunity for Swedish mental health-related companies and companies. According to market demand, there are many development possibilities in psychological and mental education, private counseling, business field.
Welcome to contact us for dialogue and discussion on related topics.
