DingDing Psychology Files for IPO: Building a Professional Community for Over 1 Million Psychology Practitioners Nationwide
In the mental health sector, the market focus is on the vast consumer base in need of psychological relief. According to a survey by the National Center for Mental Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over 100 million people aged 15 and above suffer from various mental health issues. This figure is expected to continue rising as life pressures intensify. Yet, beneath the shadow, the direction of sunlight remains equally important. The professionals working behind the scenes in the mental health industry also deserve attention.
Dingding Psychology focuses on the psychologists who provide services behind the scenes. Established in 2017, Dingding Psychology currently offers two main products: the Dingding Psychology Study Club APP and the Dingding Psychology APP. Committed to leveraging the “Internet + Psychology” model to break down geographical barriers, Dingding Psychology facilitates professional exchange and resource sharing among psychologists across China. By integrating online and offline approaches, it provides a platform for psychology professionals to communicate, grow, and monetize their expertise, while also meeting the growing demand for psychological services among the general public.
According to data released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2017, more than 900,000 individuals nationwide had obtained the professional qualification certificate for psychological counselors. However, there were only 27,733 practicing (assistant) psychiatrists, 57,591 psychiatric nurses, and a mere 5,000-plus psychotherapists across China.
More than 900,000 people have studied psychology-related knowledge, yet few are able to transition into professional psychology practitioners who provide specialized psychological services to the general public. With the advent of the internet era, how to transform online has also become a new challenge that many psychology professionals must confront.
With the advent of the Internet era, various online consultation services and screening tools have emerged. To make psychological services more accessible, the most fundamental approach is to increase the number of professionals and enhance their service capabilities at the source. This aligns with Mr. Zhang Qinghua, founder of Dingding Psychology, who advocates helping psychology professionals build their personal brands to alleviate their sense of helplessness and strengthen their professional identity.
Mr. Zhang Qinghua told VCBeat, “In the early days of founding Dingding Psychology, I interacted with many psychology professionals and discovered a pervasive sense of helplessness among them: while psychology can address societal issues, it fails to resolve the practitioners’ own personal challenges. Nowadays, it is rare to see psychology professionals thriving solely on their expertise; most rely either on the hospital system or the academic institution system for their livelihood.”
Thus, in early 2017, Mr. Zhang Qinghua decided to adopt a radically different model to help psychology professionals build their personal brands, introduce new development paradigms to the mental health industry, and enhance practitioners’ experience- and service-oriented mindset, thereby better addressing the psychological needs of the general public. To this end, Dingding Psychology committed to establishing a professional community tailored for psychology professionals, subsequently launching the Dingding Psychology Study Society, dedicated to connection, incubation, and empowerment.
Mr. Zhang Qinghua explained to VCBeat: “Dingding Psychology Study Society aims to build a professional, equal, healthy, and harmonious platform for communication and resource sharing among psychology professionals, breaking the boundaries of time and space to foster their collective growth. By ‘incubation,’ we value the authentic voices of every psychology professional, where any idea or creativity has the potential to be developed into higher-quality and more feasible psychological service projects. ‘Empowerment’ adheres to the people-oriented principle, enabling psychology professionals to take the lead in providing psychological services. Through our platform, we grant psychology professionals greater autonomy, allowing them to fully leverage their talents.”
Across the mental health platform landscape, three primary services are offered. First, psychiatric consultation platforms cater to patients with severe conditions by transitioning offline clinical visits to remote diagnosis and treatment. Second, online psychological counseling leverages popular science education as its market entry point, aiming to raise user awareness and drive willingness to pay for services. Third, there are psychological content and knowledge service platforms. Platforms like Dingding Psychology, which focus specifically on serving psychology professionals, remain rare.
After more than a year of development, Dingding Psychology Study Society has gathered nearly 10,000 psychology professionals. Dingding Psychology adopts a point-to-point certification process, and in the future, it aims to build a professional community bringing together over 1 million psychology practitioners.
Currently, the professional community for psychologists built by Dingding Psychology is not limited to online platforms. Offline, Dingding Psychology has also been striving to serve psychologists across China in better ways. Recently, the first Dingding Psychology Club was established in Xi’an. Mr. Zhang Qinghua stated that extending from online to offline aims to implement diversified services and accelerate the development of a mature, high-quality professional community for psychologists.
Although Dingding Psychology is currently dedicated to serving B-side psychology professionals, its fundamental purpose is to expand the accessibility, diversity, and professionalism of psychological services, thereby better serving C-side users. Currently, Dingding Psychology’s product matrix includes the Dingding Psychology APP, which targets C-side consumers and provides content-based and service-oriented products. These offerings include mental health education, psychological assessments, live streaming sessions on psychology, Q&A services, psychological counseling, video-based emotional support, and online psychology courses.
Mr. Zhang Qinghua stated, “In existing ‘Internet + Psychology’ platforms, products such as psychological counseling, psychology courses, and psychological assessments exhibit very high levels of coupling and integration. However, to better meet user needs, more differentiated services are required. Our empowerment of psychology professionals is precisely aimed at incubating a greater number of projects. Currently, the Dingding Psychology APP alone has amassed over 300,000 users.”
Dingding Psychology is headquartered in Changsha and serves clients across China. To support the future of the mental health industry, Dingding Psychology has entered into a strategic partnership with Hunan Normal University, establishing the Dingding Psychology Special Scholarship to foster the development of psychology. Additionally, it has built close collaborative relationships with the Mental Health Work Committee of the China Association for Social Work and numerous domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Furthermore, Dingding Psychology remains committed to its public welfare mission by launching initiatives such as targeted psychological assistance, charitable live-streamed classes, “Psychological Social Workers in Communities,” and the “100 Teachers, 100 Schools” program. By partnering with mental health professionals to reach campuses and communities, Dingding Psychology brings sunshine and warmth to every beautiful mind.
In the coming period, Dingding Psychology will continue to enhance its services for psychology professionals. Mr. Zhang Qinghua stated to VCBeat, “Only by prioritizing the development of a tiered talent pipeline for psychology professionals, assisting them in building their personal brands, and supporting more practitioners to diversify their psychological services can we significantly elevate the quality of care provided. This is the fundamental way to meet the growing mental health needs of the general public.”