Sang Min Lee, Suhyun Suh, Eunjoo Yang, and Yoo Jin Jang
This article summarizes the history and the current status of counseling in South Korea and examines challenges and future prospects in this country.
History of Counseling in South Korea
The U.S. educational delegation after the Korean War (1950-1953) introduced school guidance (Yoo, 1996) but a lack of expertise of school counselors and ill-defined role expectations were quickly observed (Lee & Yang, 2008). Consequently, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST; 2004) improved the school counseling system and offered financial support to develop counseling systems and training. Seoul National University was the first to establish in 1962 a counseling center, later the other universities followed. Counseling centers has been build in order to train new counselors, conducting researches about this profession and providing counselors services to students. In 1972, the first official graduate program in counseling was created at Ewha Woman University (Park & Hwang, 2008). Two majors professional counseling associations exist in Korea: the Korean Counseling and Psychotherapy Association (KCPA, 2004) and the Korean Counseling Association (KCA, 2000). Because of the absence of a national board for counseling certification, each association created its own certification for the practice of counseling. They both try to enhance the field of psychology in Korea by publishing journals, hosting conferences, offering credentialing systems for training as well as making policy recommendations.
Current Status
Over the years, the social demand for counseling services has increased and expanded (Seo, Kim & Kim, 2007) in the varied scope of practice like families multiple issue, mental health difficulties, drug addiction, families’ conflicts, career indecision, etc. Previously, counselors were employed as a part-time job. However, due to the rise of adolescents’ problems, MEST implemented plans to hire full-time, registered school counselors. Also, other agencies like psychiatric hospitals, Eastern medical clinics, the military, court systems, business firms and many others hired professional counselors providing individual, group, and family counseling services. Besides, the emergence and development of the counseling profession were linked with a society in which mental health needs is increasing: a suicide rate among the highest in the world (25.8 suicide per 100 000 inhabitants, OECD data, 2015), exacerbated intergenerational conflicts, an extremely competitive educational environment among others. Like said before, it doesn’t exist a counseling licensure system in South Korea. It differs from France, where the psychologist’s title is governed by law. Indeed, in this country, there is no legislative restriction on counseling private practice, but due to malpractice, KCPA and KCA are discussing the possibility of creating a national counselor licensure system. Further, these associations deliver their own counseling certification systems. They claim a layer of evidences of counseling skills, for instance, the total number of hours and sessions of individual and group counseling and supervision as well as work samples (e.g., audiotapes and transcriptions of counseling sessions). A written and oral examination is also required. Currently, the certifications from KCPA and KCA is strongly recommended to work in most public and private counseling agencies.
Counseling Challenges and Prospects
Nowadays, the country knows many waves of immigration. As the population become more diversify (foreign workers, North Korean refugees, mixed family) South Korea also know many crises as low employment among recent college graduates, high rates of violence among adolescents and concerns due to a hyper-connected social media system society. Foreigners aren’t necessarily troublemaker, but their integration in South Korean society as in many countries need someone to go through the social process and immigration procedures.This integration is a real challenge for counselors because of the issues that trigger which impact the well-being of their client. We should also consider how religion is deeply included in the education and the culture. Instead of the western part, Southern has a high level of spirituality. It is the reason why counselors would take special cares to involve spirituality in the care relationship building. Counseling technicals in South Korea are more based on humanistic approaches considering the relationship building as a key factor for the success of counseling (Joo, 2009). Lastly, counselor has to be proactive in advocating and therapying. Insurances, family, integration, school, education are organized around the corporate and competitive system (lien vidéo: Corée du sud condamné à réussir) it’s a lifestyle that provided no real private life. Keep in mind that only 0,001% of the students (560 000) will be admitted in the 5 best university in South Korea so students have to do a “perfect” (20/20) to your exams, that gives us perspective about “ParcoursSup” isn’t it ? In order to prepare the enter university competition, students are gonna study from 7h to 22h every day during 364 days in specials internship.
Korea is open on the world and its foreign workers arrived on another planet. First, protocol system is totally new to a foreigner, working rhythms are important 40 minutes break in a day more than 11 hours of work (8h-(work)-12h-(break)-12h45-(work)-18h-(break)-18h45-(work)-21h30).
As South Korea continues to emerge as a leading country in advanced technology, two major challenges face counselors. With an increase in Internet-based counseling, ethical issues (e.g., Confidentiality) in providing distance counseling services.
We should remind how the collectivist cultural plays a role in receiving counseling service. This kind of help is perceived to bring disgrace to family members which could explain the rise of internet-based counseling.
Counselors’ roles in schools, families, firms and their position among mental health professional remain unclear. The competition will force counseling professionals to invest their effort to create positions in private and public institutions. Finally, counselors main challenges lies in the fact that the public needs to hear that counseling is no longer just for people with severe mental disorders first, and most of all in the establishment of rules practice and positioning among mental-health practitioners.
References:
Eric Surdej. (2015). Le système économique sud-coréen vu de l’intérieur [64’ Francophone]. TV5 Monde. Paris, France: Youtube. https://youtu.be/sHbWlyhCjZ4.
Lee, S. M., & Yang, E. (2008). School counseling in South Korea: Historical development, current status, and prospects. Asian Journal of Counselling, 15, 157–181.
Park, A. S., & Hwang, M. G. (2008). Issues for identification in relation to counseling in Korea [In Korean]. Korean Journal of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 20, 903–929.
Seo, Y. S., Kim, D. M., & Kim, D. I. (2007). Current status and prospects of Korean counseling psychology: Research, clinical training, and job placement. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 56, 107–118.
Yoo, J. H. (1996). A study of the historical development of Korean school counseling (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Words I have learned:
Tremendous: énorme
To seek: chercher, demander
Scope of practice: champ d’activité
Credentials : pouvoir, diplôme
Guillon Geoffrey et Beaugard Elisa
written by Geoffrey Guillon and Elisa Beaugard
Master 2, Clinical Psychology Student.