Nationwide First Local Government Youth Sexual Counseling Center Operation, Customized Sexual Counseling for Youth... Providing Sexual Concern Counseling and Educational Counseling to Support Growth as Sexual Subjects Respecting Others' Rights
Nowon-gu, Seoul (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it is conducting customized sexual counseling for youth through experts, centered around the 'Youth Sexual Counseling Center.'
According to a 2021 report by the Korean Women's Development Institute, the most common way for youth to satisfy their sexual curiosity is through portal site searches at 27.4%, followed by YouTube (19.8%) and SNS (9.4%), with internet-based information acquisition being predominant.
The Nowon-gu Youth Sexual Counseling Center was established in 2021 as the first of its kind among basic local governments nationwide to prevent the risks posed by indiscriminate sexual information to youth and to support the establishment of healthy and desirable values regarding sexuality among young people.
Unlike sexual violence counseling centers that support victims or youth sexual culture centers responsible for sexual culture experiences and education for children and adolescents, the center focuses mainly on 'sexual counseling' for youth concerns and sexual curiosity during growth before problems arise or become incidents, which is a distinctive feature of the center.
Counseling is conducted by professional counselors specializing in youth sexual counseling, addressing various topics in depth to help children and adolescents honestly resolve their concerns and questions related to puberty, pregnancy and childbirth, dating, sexual behavior, and other sexuality-related issues.
Furthermore, the district operates a peer counseling program where 'Youth Peer Counselors' conduct counseling to help children and adolescents understand sexual culture in the digital age and discuss their sexual questions with peers.
The peer counseling involves training about 10 local youth aged 13 to 18 as counselors, and those who complete the training become counselors who provide actual counseling through peer conversations in daily life settings.
An official stated, “Because counseling is conducted by peers who have experienced similar concerns, the psychological burden on counseling recipients is reduced, making case discovery easier, and rapid intervention is possible in potential crisis situations, resulting in particularly high satisfaction among participants.”
Located on the 3rd floor of Onmaeul Center in Junggye-dong, the Nowon Youth Sexual Counseling Center operates from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Those needing counseling can apply through various channels such as phone (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), email, and KakaoTalk (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.), and counseling is free for Nowon-gu residents.
Meanwhile, the center is producing a 'Youth Sexual Counseling Guidebook' containing counseling plans and tips. Around June, when production is completed, the materials will be distributed and training conducted for local experts, youth organization workers, and Wee class counselors (programs providing counseling and education through the counseling rooms of students’ schools). This is to help youth who feel burdened by face-to-face counseling at the center to comfortably receive counseling in familiar places.
Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Adolescence is an important period when physical and mental values are established,” adding, “We will continue to strengthen the public role so that our children can grow into individuals with correct sexual values.”
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