Gangnam-gu Operates 57 Customized Programs Targeting Diverse Families

Understanding and Carefully Supporting Challenges Faced by Diverse Families Such as Single-Person, Multicultural, Grandparent-Grandchild, and Dual-Income Families... Specialized Family Counseling Recognized as an Excellent Counseling Institution for Two Consecutive Years... Popular "Discovery of Newlyweds" Program for Prospective and Newlywed Couples

Gangnam-gu (District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong) plans to operate 57 customized programs for about 60,000 people to support increasingly diverse families.

The Gangnam-gu Family Center (617-8 Gaepo-ro) contributes to creating a healthy family culture by running family programs such as family education, counseling, and care. This year’s specialized projects include ▲ counseling programs for prospective and newlywed couples ▲ Korean history and career education for children of multicultural families ▲ ‘Sonjubyungbeop’ classes teaching caregiving and play methods to grandparents caring for grandchildren ▲ weekday afternoon and weekend after-school care classes for children of dual-income families ▲ classes for male caregivers ▲ monthly special lectures called ‘One Pick’ tailored to the interests of various family types such as single-person households ▲ coaching programs for children with emotional anxiety and disabilities, carefully supporting the difficulties faced by diverse family types.

Additionally, through events like the Whole Family Sharing Market and Community Childcare Sharing Centers, families are helped to avoid isolation and form communities to cooperate with each other.

Along with this, family counseling programs that prevent conflicts and provide opportunities for mutual understanding among family members will be activated. The center is a counseling-specialized institution that won the Seoul Family Center’s Excellence Award in family counseling for two consecutive years and received certification as an excellent family counseling institution from the Korea Healthy Family Promotion Agency. Professional counselors with up to 10 years of counseling experience provide customized counseling. Family counseling, conducted over a total of 10 sessions, consists of 6 free sessions followed by 4 paid sessions. Individual counseling costs 18,000 KRW per session, and couple or family counseling costs 28,000 KRW per session, which is cheaper than market prices.

In particular, as a specialized family counseling project, the ‘Discovery of Newlyweds’ program, first conducted last year with 37 couples participating, will be expanded. It targets prospective couples and newlywed couples within 7 years of marriage, providing personality and temperament tests for each individual, followed by two customized counseling sessions of 50 minutes each.

This year, reflecting feedback from previous participants, ▲ the pre-test for personality and temperament has added the MBTI test alongside the existing TCI test ▲ counseling methods can be chosen between face-to-face and non-face-to-face ▲ participants can opt for two consecutive 100-minute sessions if desired. Applications are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and the participation fee is 10,000 KRW per person.

Those interested in participating in various family programs can visit the center’s website or inquire by phone.

Jo Seong-myeong, Mayor of Gangnam-gu, stated, “The form of families is now becoming more segmented beyond nuclear families centered on blood relations, into single-person families, multicultural families, elderly families, community families, and more. Through specialized projects, we will proactively provide the necessary support to diverse families and create a healthy family community.”