STUDENTS OFTEN feel reluctant to seek help at counseling centers. Their ambivalence is understandable; South Korea holds a strong social stigma against mental health issues. Moreover, the common myth that counseling is an uncomfortable experience hinders students from paying a visit[1]. They fear prejudice from their peers and spending unnecessary time or money to solve what they think is trivial. However, hiding away one’s struggles can lead to the deterioration of one’s mental health. Yonsei’s Counseling Center has slowly but surely opened various accessible programs to create a safe and comfortable space for university students.

Historical footprints

   Established in 1968, Yonsei’s Counseling Center started out as a commemorative project for Yonsei University’s 80th anniversary. The counseling center was first set up within the student building, which was established with the help of Honorary President Baek Nak-joon and missionary Pastor Peter van Lierop. Now, the center has expanded, thanks to elevated student interests, and is located on the fourth floor of Baek-yang Hall. Following Yonsei’s increase in the number of enrolled students, the university decided to expand its pool of counselors. The center went from relying on external counseling experts to recruiting its own counseling professors from related departments such as the Department of Education, Theology, and Psychology. Now, 11 full-time counselors are running the center, including seven Ph.D. experts with more than 20 years of counseling experience. In recent years, counseling activities have expanded from Sinchon to the International Campus, where first-year students can receive counseling without the inconvenient Seoul trip.

   The number of students reaching out to the center has decreased since the pandemic, and likewise, the center finds difficulty in raising awareness about its mission. Still, to make sure students in need receive appropriate counseling, the center continues to find alternative ways to reach them. In an interview with The Yonsei Annals, Counselor Lee Kyung-ah from the counseling center stated, “We used to put up posters of the programs before the pandemic, but since students no longer come as often to our school campus, we decided it would be best to make ourselves known through the emails we send out.” In addition to using emails for better accessibility, the center decided to provide online programs to meet students’ needs.

Offered programs

   The center’s leading service is its counseling conducted by actual experts. The counseling center’s director Kim Young-hoon stated in an interview with Hankyung Business, “In the case of counseling, it is difficult for students to see physical changes in a short time, but students’ survey results of the counseling services’ satisfaction level reveal that they are highly satisfied with a score of 90 points.” To request for a counseling session, students first sign up for a time slot on the center’s homepage, which its link can be found on Yonsei’s official website. Then, they can later visit the center and complete the Yonsei Screening Questionnaire (YSQ)[2], a testing tool developed by the center that evaluates whether a student needs professional help. According to Lee, “There are a lot of students who come in for counseling, so in order to efficiently and cost-effectively figure out what problems students are facing, we have developed the YSQ.” Instead of having to use external tests that are costly, the YSQ allows the center to save costs. For students, they can identify what problems they are having without having to wait several days for the test results. Accordingly, the whole counseling process became more convenient for both parties using the YSQ; Lee confirmed that the quality of the center’s counseling has greatly improved after its use. Upon completing the YSQ and reviewing their results, students can decide whether they want to get a counselor assigned to them. 

   Other than its individual counseling sessions, a psychodrama[3] expert is invited to the center once a year to conduct psychodrama sessions where students can volunteer to act out hypothetical events and learn how to handle such situations. Although the center could not provide the experience for the past two years, Lee claimed the center will resume its psychodrama service to students once the pandemic subdues.

   The center also conducts several psychological tests for students who want a more objective and standardized counseling experience. After going through a similar sign-up process as the other programs, students can visit the center to select the one they are interested in taking. After completing the 30-minute test, students can request a counseling session to help them interpret their results. The center currently offers four types of tests: the TCI test distinguishes what students’ natural temperament is in comparison to their character developed over time; the LCSI test identifies which jobs are appropriate for students’ identified personality; the U&I test checks students’ readiness for making career decisions, and the K-IIP test helps students understand why they may be having interpersonal problems. Lee explained that the tests are currently only available in Korean due to copyright despite their efforts to offer services in various languages.

   Starting last year, the center has tried to extend to international students by providing counseling in English and Chinese. It intended to “allow foreigners to make use of the services as well as Korean students who are not proficient in Korean,” as Lee claimed. As of now, the Sinchon campus offers multilingual counselors, but the International Campus is still looking for English-speaking counseling experts. Lee affirmed they would provide services as soon as a certified counselor is employed.

   In addition to counseling and tests, the center provides various workshop programs for students. Lee explained that the theme and content of each workshop program varies depending on the counselor who runs it. For example, through the center’s candle-making program, “students learn about the meaning of self-understanding and sharing during the process, which is the core of the program,” Lee stated. During the past two years, the center has offered programs such as online meditation, which opened as a way to reach more students during the pandemic. Now, in the spring semester, the center offers meditation offline. Students can sign up for it by scanning the QR code on the online posters sent to students’ Yonsei email accounts. Through four weekly 90-minutes meditation sessions, students can de-stress and be liberated from their troubling minds. Students “first learn the basics of meditation in the first week, then learn different methods of meditation such as sensory and yoga meditation, and lastly end the program with handling emotions through meditation,” Lee stated. The center also invites special lecturers to come in and talk. In the past, the center invited lecturer An Yoo-sun, a counselor at the Korean Counseling Psychological Association, who is also a blue belt in martial arts; she gave a lecture about the necessity of a healthy body for “sustainable growth and development.” Lee stated, “We go through a selective process of choosing certified experts in related fields.” After such lectures, the center hands out a satisfaction survey and uses it to decide what other experts students may be interested in hearing from. By attentively listening to students’ feedback, the counseling center continuously aims to meet their needs. 

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   Helping students maintain a healthy mindset is one of the school’s responsibilities. Yonsei’s counseling is offered exclusively to Yonsei undergraduates and graduates, and students are invited to take advantage of the aid the counseling center provides them. Numerous students should have crossed paths with a counselor at Yonsei, so there is no reason to be afraid to seek help from trained professionals and ask for guidance through their troubles.

[1] Inside Higher Ed

[2] Yonsei Screening Questionnaire: A questionnaire designed to identify and analyze the psychological difficulties that students face in various aspects

[3] Psychodrama: An action-based therapy where participants explore past events by acting them out