In our TEDxPuxi Speakers series, we interview some of the event's headliners. Find them at the half-day of talks on November 3 at the Shanghai Centre Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here.
Originally a documentary producer, Kate Yan has spent nearly a decade in intensive training and earning national qualification to become a professional psychotherapist, centering her interest on the lack of knowledge and professional support available to and surrounding children’s emotional and behavioral development in China. Focusing that interest even deeper on the mental health issues affecting 0-18 year olds and their families, she continues to work and champion various projects aiding in the help, development and education of issues concerning infants, children and adolescents.
Ahead of her talk at TEDxPuxi, we spoke with Yan about transitioning careers, pyschotherapy in a post-one-child policy China and this year's event theme, "Yes! And..."
What was it that made you decide to change disciplines from documentary production to becoming a professional psychotherapist? Was there something you covered in a documentary that lead to this decision?
Actually I think it was a consistent move in my career: both of them involve huge curiosity for human beings.
I started to learn psychology with an intention to better interviewing my characters. I want to know how trust is built up between people, and how do I understand people from their life stories. My father is a psychotherapist, so I have been pretty familiar with that world ever since adolescence.
The career switch may seem like a big jump, but for me, it was destiny. When I started to learn it, I thought to myself, “That’s it, that’s something I want to do for the rest of my life.” Yes, and... I became a psychotherapist.
Do you feel your previous profession has informed your approach to tackling the lack of knowledge and support in children's emotional and behavioral development?
Not really. When I worked in the documentary field, most of the productions had nothing to do with children. I started to have a deep feeling for these issues because of two incidents: 1)Working as a psychotherapist, I listened to people’s stories and secrets. In this process, I continued witnessing how the ignorance or violence in parenting can harm a child’s life long development; 2) I became a mother eight years ago. When communicating to different people, I realized there was a lot we could do to provide sufficient knowledge and support to more parents.
Some of your other work includes being a contributor of psychodynamic film criticism. Does this stem from an understanding of the influence that the moving image has on society off the back of your previous profession?
Yes, I believe stories have power. Stories can heal and empower people.
In 1910, Sigmund Freud said that cinema was the psychoanalysis couch for the working class. While psychotherapy is not available for most people in society, I believe film, literature, poetry and all kinds of art also create unique time and space for people to reflect, share, forgive and move on.
To what extent has the phrase "Yes! And..." been present in either your professional or personal life?
“Yes! And…” is a “zen” style expression. It has a layer of meaning that you can accept whatever happened in the past, focus on the present and create more possibilities of the future. That is almost the “logic” of doing psychotherapy.
As for my personal life, “Yes! And…” also means the openness and willingness to connect to people. I enjoy being with my family and friends — and now a cat!
In what way to you intend to address the "Yes! And..." theme at TEDxPuxi given your professional background?
I want to have a voice for these forgotten and isolated scars in people’s memories and call for action to reflect on these intergenerational traumas. These scars may come from a special historical background, for example, the one-child policy. I listened to these stories in my work and life quite often. But they're barely mentioned in the mainstream media.
Now with the introduction of the two-child policy, it is also a good time to reflect on what happened during the 35 years of the one-child policy.
See Yan at TEDxPuxi on November 3 at the Shanghai Centre Theatre. Check out our preview here, and purchase tickets here.
Read more interviews in our TEDxPuxi Speaker series here.
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