The Footprints of
Zhi Mian Institute
01
Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy
Training Center
Zhi-Mian Apprentices；Resident Students；Counselor in Training；Distance Learning
Counseling Center
IFGC Integrative Counseling；Psychological Counseling；
Hotline Counseling；Group Counseling；Workshops
Publication and Research Center
Zhi-Mian Book Series；International Communication (Conferences)；
Existential Movement (London) National Hub China
02
Service Aim
Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy (ZMICP) is established and maintained by a group of people who show a deep concern for human life and growth. Its service is derived from love and care for humanity. With compassion, patience, faith embodied in our expertise, we encourage the discouraged, support the weakened, heal the wounded, and awaken the escaped, aiming to restore people’s sense of self-esteem, confidence and hope for life, enabling each of them to face the challenges of life and fulfill their potential.
03
Hotline Counseling
Since the establishment of Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy in 2002, it has started training hotline counselors and opened its first counseling hotline. By 2004, the number of inquires had increased significantly so that the second counseling hotline has been opened. Our service reaches people from all over China, even from overseas Chinese students. Until now, Zhi Mian Hotline has maintained its service for 22 years and received over 100,000 phone calls.
04
Zhi Mian New Culture Theatre
Zhi Mian New Culture Theatre (previously the Singing and Acting Drama Club) was founded in 2015, with a purpose of creating new culture and cultivating individuals. 0ur representative works include:
Smashing Pots for Selling Iron, Study Only and Only Study, Life is More Beautiful Than You Can Imagine, The Case Failing to Close, The Trilogy of Paradise, etc.
These works pull at people’s heartstrings and gain great popularity, greatly promoting new culture advocated by Zhi Mian Psychology.
05
Zhi Mian Group Workshops
The group workshop at Zhi Mian Institute has a history of over 20 years. 0ur initial workshop experience dated back to 1996 when we started to lead “Self-Developmental Group". Since 2002, we have begun to develop group workshops based on Zhi Mian approach to psychotherapy. Zhi Mian group workshops with a variety of themes (12 themes) have benefited a large number of people.
Their experience of participating in these workshops has become a turning point in the transformation and development of their lives. In the meantime we also initiate Existential Psychology workshop on a variety of themes, which would bring you onto an amazing existential journey.
06
Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy has established close relationship with international counterparts in the area of existential psychology. We collaborated with American Society of Humanistic Psychology and universities, professional organizations in China to organize International Conferences on Existential Psychology (Nanjing 2010, Shanghai 2012,Guangzhou 2014). We also participated in the World Congress of Existential Therapy (London, 2015 & Athens, 2023). We contributed chapters to:
Wiley World Handbook on Existential Therapy; APA World Handbook on Existential-Humanistic Psychology.
We also publish numerous articles in international journals. With all these efforts, the Zhi Mian approach to psychotherapy, developed in China, is gradually recognized in the world.
In 2023, Dr Wang Xuefu was invited to join the Advisory Committee of Existential Movement (initiated by Emmy van Deurzen in London) and Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy was thereby appointed as the National Hub of this global existential movement. Ever since, ZMICP has joined the international community in a fuller scale in promoting the dialogue and development of existential therapy across nations.
International Communications
07
Awards
Given its quality service and achievements, Zhi Mian Institute gained recognition from the colleagues and award from Nanjing Municipality. In 2004, Dr. Wang Xuefu, on behalf of Zhi Mian Institute, was awarded the title of “the Outstanding Figure of Nanjing Top Ten Burgeoning Industry" and “Pace-Setter of the New Long March".
In 2013,Dr. Wang Xuefu, together with Zhi Mian Institute for Counseling and Psychotherapy,was awarded “The Charlotte & Karl Buhler Award" by the American Psychological Association (APA), Society for Humanistic Psychology in recognition of their “outstanding and continuous contributions” in promoting humanistic psychology.
08
The Existential Café
The Existential Café, founded in 2020 by ZMICP, has become a cozy spot for cohorts of diversity to enjoy coffee and tea, talk extensively on topics of existence and zhi mian, culture, education, parenting, marriage, etc.
09
Zhi Mian Training Courses
ZMICP takes deep root in our counseling service and establishes itself on its professionality. 0ur training courses is also proceeding with full vigor: Initially, we offered training courses to hotline counselors, and then conducted ECP training program. Gradually,we advanced our training to core training courses such as: Zhi Mian Analysts, Existential Therapists, Cultural Identifier, Zhi Mian Narrative Analysis, One Thousand and One Nights: Zhi Mian Case Study Series, etc. In 2011, we began to recruit students for advanced tutorship training. Step by step, we move up from the bottom to the top with the purpose of training high quality counselors and psychotherapists.
10
Publications
Ever since its founding in 2002, Zhi Mian Institute has issued Zhi Mian Report, an organizational newsletter. In 2023, we renovated the newsletter into a journal named Psychology: Existence and Zhi Mian. Since 2005,we have edited and printed 12 ECP textbooks. Most importantly we have published (so far) 13 books as Zhi Mian Psychotherapy Book Series, including:
The Wounded, A Path to Growth, A Heart to Heal, Becoming Yourself, Thus Spoke the Zhi Mian Healer, Psychology In Life, Zhi Mian Psychology: Plumbing the Mysteries of the Human Soul, Sing a Song for a Broken Heart, The Voice of Zhi Mian: Toward a Chinese Indigenous Approach to Psychotherapy, Therapist: A Pursuer of Cultural Enlightenment, etc.
The publication of Zhi Mian has helped nurture the newly emerging psychological counseling in China.
11
Training Programs
Zhi Mian Institute set up a chamber of private training, adopting traditional model of tutorship. We recruit apprentices, resident students, offering professional on-site training, practice and supervision, seminars on case study, learning by observation (live therapy by a tutor) activities.
In 2011, Zhi Mian Institute began to recruit students in residence, characterized with a renovation of immersive learning. Courses included are: Zhi Mian Approach to Psychotherapy, Existential Therapy, Developmental Psychology, Family Cultural Ecosystem, Parent-Child Relationship, Psychological Abnormalities and Culture, The Psychology Resources in Chinese Culture, etc. In addition, apprentices and resident students involve a variety of activities, such as seminars, lecture series, workshops, practicum, cultural exchanges, dramas, and so on.
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A Glimmer in the Darkness
—A Bud of Words After a Therapy Session
In the deepest abyss,
there shines a ray of light,
through the gloom.
In the most profound depth,
light is invisible to the eyes of the multitude.
The fallen man in the abyss,
has long forfeited his belief in light.
Yet, with faith in your heart,
as a therapist,
you become the beholder of the light.
By Dr. Wang Xuefu, presenting in Chinese calligraphy
