'Parents' Mind Growth - Group Counseling for Fathers' - 코리안투데이 글로벌(The Koean Today Global)

Incheon Dong-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center (Director Kim Soon-im) announced that it successfully conducted the ‘Parents’ Mental Growth – Group Counseling for Fathers’ program from the 9th to the 10th. This program is part of the Youth Mental Health Support Project hosted by Dong-gu Office (Director Kim Chan-jin) and organized by Dong-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center, and was planned to provide experiences of self-exploration and healing by operating a themed mental health support program for youth and their parents (primary caregivers) every quarter.

This third quarter program was participated by 9 fathers raising teenage children in the district, and invited instructor Chae Kyung-sun (currently a professor in the Department of Family Counseling at Sungsan Hyodae University and director of the Harmony Counseling Center) to conduct the program based on the family therapy theory of V. Satir under the theme of “Creating a happy family through a happy father.”

Participants were given individual pre-interviews prior to group counseling to set up a counseling structure and were also provided with a psychological test on the personalities of their children and spouses. Through this, participants were able to create an important opportunity to understand and accept not only their own personalities but also those of their family members.

[Korean Today] Fathers who participated in group counseling for fathers © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

One father who participated in the program said, “It was a valuable time for me to reflect on myself as a father at home and objectively check my personality, temperament, and parenting style for a healthy family and parenting.”

Center Director Kim Soon-im said, “Changes in the head of the household have a great impact on the household.” She added, “We expect that the household will recover healthily through the head of the household’s reflection and change in how to communicate with their children and improve their relationships. We will work to ensure that changes in the household can have a positive impact on the local community through the Youth Mental Health Project.”

Meanwhile, the Dong-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center operates various programs such as street counseling, group counseling, parent education, and sand play therapy to discover and solve problems of at-risk youth, and operates the Youth Hotline (1388) hosted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide counseling on minor concerns of youth as well as crisis counseling on running away from home and violence.