Seoul City Greatly Expands 'One-Person Household Counseling Mentoring' to Support Emotional Stability

Expansion of 'Single-Person Household Mentoring Program' Matching Single-Person Households with Psychological Counseling Experts to Start in May
Participating Districts 3 → 9, Participants 62 → 180, Mentoring Sessions 10 → 15

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching a stable emotional management initiative for Seoul's 1.39 million single-person households. Starting in May, the city will begin the "Single-Person Household Mentoring Program," which matches single-person households experiencing psychological difficulties such as feelings of isolation and depression with professional psychological counselors as mentors and mentees.

On the 28th, Seoul announced that, following the pilot project of the Single-Person Household Mentoring Program conducted last September, which showed a high satisfaction rate of 92.4%, the program will be expanded significantly this year. According to the "Seoul Single-Person Household Status and Policy Demand Survey" conducted last year, 41% of single-person households reported feeling lonely, but 16.6% said they took no action when feeling lonely. To address the emotional stability and loneliness of the rapidly increasing single-person households, the city has prepared a customized program.

Seoul will expand the program significantly from last year's 3 autonomous districts and 62 participants (18 mentors and 44 mentees) to 9 autonomous districts and 180 participants (42 mentors and 138 mentees) this year. The number of participating districts has tripled, and the number of participants has more than doubled. The number of mentoring sessions per person will also increase from 10 to 15 to enhance effectiveness. Additionally, new support will be provided for the formation of self-help groups among mentees. When groups are formed, activity expenses will be supported to continuously help build relationships.

This year's Single-Person Household Mentoring Program will proceed on two tracks: personalized counseling through "1:1 Mentoring" and providing diverse communication opportunities through "Group Activity Mentoring." The goal is to help single-person households share interests and experiences, naturally reduce loneliness, and achieve emotional stability, thereby capturing the dual benefits of psychological stability and sustained relationship building.

Support to strengthen mentors' capabilities and enhance their sense of mission has also been increased. Regular education, orientation, and mentoring activity sharing sessions will be held to improve program quality, and activity incentives will be expanded to ensure effective mentoring. Mentors will receive activity fees recognizing attendance at education sessions such as orientation and activity sharing meetings beyond mentoring activities, and will be awarded a certificate of appointment from the Mayor of Seoul to instill a sense of responsibility.

The program will be operated by the single-person household support centers in the autonomous districts, which will conduct preliminary assessments based on application forms considering age, areas of interest, and duration of single-person household status, then connect the optimal mentor-mentee pairs. Mentors will provide tailored mentoring involving "counseling + communication + various activities" to mentees. Experts (mentors) and single-person households (mentees) wishing to participate can submit their application documents to the single-person household support centers in the 9 autonomous districts where the program will be implemented.

Lee Hae-seon, Head of the Seoul Single-Person Household Special Measures Task Force, said, “Unlike general counseling programs, the Single-Person Household Mentoring Program is conducted within a close mentor-mentee bond, so it is expected to produce more meaningful results in helping single-person households overcome loneliness.” She added, “Seoul will continue to provide meticulous support so that single-person households can recover their mental health, regain vitality in daily life, and reintegrate into society.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.