Seocho-gu Lowers Barriers to Employee Psychological Counseling to Improve Quality of Service for Residents

Operation of Former 'Employee Stress Management'... 1:1 Psychological Counseling, Stress Tests, Group Counseling with Confidentiality and Engaging Programs to Lower Barriers to Psychological Counseling... Counseling Space Opened with Comfortable Interior and Furnishings to Create a Focused Atmosphere, Professional Psychological Counselors On-site

Seocho-gu is taking systematic measures to care for the mental health of public officials, aiming to achieve three goals: high job satisfaction, improved quality of administrative services, and mental well-being.

Seocho-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeon Seong-su) will officially launch the ‘Employee Stress Management Project’ from the 23rd to manage the mental health of public officials.

This project comes in response to the increasing mental burden caused by job stress due to the rise in malicious and chronic complaints, as well as the growing difficulties employees face in balancing work and family life, highlighting the need for systematic support.

According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, malicious and chronic complaints such as verbal abuse, assault, and sexual harassment have sharply increased every year: 38,000 cases in 2019, 46,000 in 2020, and 52,000 in 2021.

In response, the district will introduce and operate regular mental health professional programs including ▲hiring mental health experts ▲conducting customized counseling programs ▲providing dedicated counseling spaces.

In particular, this project lowers the psychological barrier to counseling that employees usually feel by ensuring strict confidentiality and offering engaging, customized programs. This is intended to encourage voluntary participation among employees.

First, the district publicly recruited mental health experts holding clinical psychologist certifications to work full-time within the government office, responsible for operations and program development.

Counseling will be conducted through various programs tailored by age and gender, including one-on-one face-to-face psychological counseling, ▲comprehensive stress tests for all employees using an autonomic nervous system testing device (HRV) ▲MBTI (personality type test) ▲art therapy ▲personality type tests for children ▲group counseling programs. Satisfaction surveys and follow-up monitoring will also be conducted.

Notably, the ‘Comprehensive Stress Test for All Employees’ using the autonomic nervous system testing device (HRV) analyzes fingertip vascular pulse waves to measure vascular health and stress levels, enabling more accurate counseling based on individual data.

Additionally, the district supports employees in high-risk groups or those seeking in-depth psychological counseling by covering costs up to 500,000 KRW per person for professional counseling institutions.

The district has created a dedicated professional psychological counseling space called ‘Maeumjeongwon’ (Mind Garden) on the basement first floor of the district office to help counselors and employees focus on counseling. This approximately 17㎡ space is designed with soundproofing and safety in mind. It is furnished with lighting, sofas, a ‘media window’ displaying natural scenery, and healing books to create a cozy environment.

Meanwhile, Seocho-gu has been continuously providing various supports for the mental health of public officials. In June, it enacted the ‘Ordinance on the Protection and Support of Public Officials in Charge of Civil Complaints.’ This year, it opened ‘Adamsso,’ a private room within the one-stop civil complaint center ‘OK Civil Service Center,’ to provide time for relieving stress from complaint handling. Other ongoing initiatives include ▲‘Healing Coupons’ for cafe beverages provided to civil complaint officers ▲opening of an employee-only lounge ‘SOOMː’ ▲legal counseling and support for dealing with malicious complaints.

Jeon Seong-su, Mayor of Seocho-gu, said, “We will continue to strive to create a happy work environment with the mindset that ‘healthy employees lead to improved quality of administrative services for residents.’”

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