No Child Left Behind! ... Ulsan Office of Education Strengthens Support for Students' Emotional Recovery from COVID-19

Ulsan Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education is focusing on recovery support projects for students who are experiencing psychological and emotional difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The education office provides psychological and emotional stability support to both general students and high-risk students, offering counseling and education tailored to the situation through the wee centers and mental health classrooms within schools.

Currently, mental health classrooms are operating in 8 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and 8 high schools, totaling 28 locations supporting students' mental health.

The Ulsan Office of Education also provides emergency psychological support for vulnerable students requiring treatment and students interested in mental health by collaborating with external specialized institutions.

At the Our Child Mental Health Support Center, which opened this year, three mental health specialists have been appointed to provide treatment cost support through in-depth interviews conducted by clinical psychologists and mental health professional counselors, helping students return to school life quickly.

The center manages cases of students in crisis and has established a treatment support system in cooperation with eight contracted hospitals in the area, providing treatment costs of 1 million KRW per student for those in mental health crisis. Additionally, an extra 500,000 KRW is provided for hospital stays exceeding 10 days.

This year alone, the center has supported mental health treatment costs for 90 individuals through expert counseling and provided emergency psychological counseling for 13 students.

The education office has conducted gatekeeper training to enable teachers, who meet students daily at school, to detect early signs of suicide and act as life protectors for students.

For elementary, middle, and high schools, the office has also held life-respecting mental health promotion cultural and artistic performances such as traveling sand art shows, plays, and musicals to help students develop a mindset that values life.

In response to the recent increase in students vulnerable to mental health issues, the Ulsan Office of Education conducted a teacher training session on the 21st to effectively respond to high-risk mental health situations.

At the 2022 Student Suicide Prevention and Life Respect Culture Formation training attended by about 250 elementary, middle, and high school teachers, Jang Jin-wook, Superintendent of Character Education at Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, gave a lecture titled “Operation of School Crisis Management Committees.”

The lecture provided concrete, case-centered guidance on activating and operating school crisis management committees as crisis prevention organizations for unpredictable crisis students in school settings.

Superintendent No Ok-hee stated, “Activating school crisis management committees to prevent and respond to various crisis situations occurring in schools is essential, and we expect a significant role from schools and teachers in charge of these duties to ensure that not a single child is overlooked.”

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