[Power K-Women] Helping Single Mothers Led to Prison and Orphanage... The Miracle of 10,000 People

Children on the Edge, If Only There Was One Person Who Believed in Them
Connecting Acts of Kindness Everywhere to Break the Cycle of Misfortune
"Failed Extreme Attempt... Thanks to That, We Can Help 10,000 People"
Hoping the 'Deogong Center' Becomes a 'Grandmother's House' for Independent Youth

Psychological counselor Park Sang-mi (47) is known by various titles. She serves as the vice president of the Korean Meaning Therapy Association, which is led alongside the great psychiatrist Dr. Lee Si-hyung, and is called a professor at Hanyang University Graduate School. At the psychological counseling education center Healing Campus The Gonggam, she is the dean. To inmates receiving psychological counseling in prisons, she is affectionately nicknamed "Fat Lee Young-ae," and to young adults who grew up in orphanages and are now independent, she is called "Ssaem (teacher)." Behind this is her bold personality. If the heart is willing, she pushes forward with the belief that "wanting to do something means you can do it."

Her psychological treatment counseling for inmates, which began 13 years ago, originated from a chance encounter in Germany. While studying abroad in Germany, she helped a Korean adoptee friend find his biological mother. After learning that the biological mother was a 17-year-old unmarried mother at the time of birth, she began helping unmarried mothers. She thought, "If I help unmarried mothers well, children like my friend won’t be born." Then she suddenly wondered, "Where are the fathers and what are they doing?" After some inquiry, she found that many were incarcerated in prisons. That’s how she started counseling inmates. However, through conversations, she found that many of them surprisingly came from orphanages or juvenile detention centers. She felt heartbroken thinking, ‘If only there had been one person who believed in them, their reality would have been different.’ Since then, she has struggled for over a decade to become that ‘one person who believes in them,’ and recently, she has been working to establish ‘one persons’ beyond herself by training psychological counselors.

On the 17th, we met Dean Park Sang-mi at ‘Healing Campus The Gonggam’ located in Seocho-dong, Seoul.

Sangmi Park, Dean of Healing Campus The Gonggam, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at Healing Campus The Gonggam in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

- You are called a broadcaster, YouTuber, writer, lecturer, educator, and more. Personally, what do you focus on?

▲My job (職) is teaching students at school, and my profession (業) is living as a psychological counselor until the day I die. There are many people in the world who are economically and environmentally struggling and cannot receive (counseling) treatment. Helping them is my profession. I find joy in continuously broadcasting and writing books to earn money to help those who want treatment but cannot afford it.

- I heard you especially devote yourself to caring for juveniles in juvenile detention centers and young adults who grew up in orphanages.

▲While supporting unmarried mothers and inmates psychologically, I explored the root causes of misfortune and found that a large part was due to unfortunate childhood environments. Many did not receive warm support during childhood, and especially many came from orphanages. It was common for children to wander in orphanages, become close to bad older brothers or sisters, go to juvenile detention centers, and then move on to prisons. My conclusion was, "If there is just one person who believes in you, you won’t collapse."

- What is the general life situation of independent young adults?

▲Orphanage children come out into the world at age 18 under the name of independent youth. But since they have no one to trust or rely on, the rates of homelessness or suicide are very high. When leaving the orphanage, they receive about 10 million won in support funds, but most are scammed. If someone shows a little affection, they easily trust them.

- How do you support them?

▲Last year, at ‘The Gonggam Center,’ we even took in two at a time to live with us. For each person, it was at least one month and up to two months. Priority is given to children who repeatedly experience homelessness and psychiatric hospitalizations. But deeply wounded hearts take a very long time to heal. Taking in just one or two people is not enough. Believing prevention is important, since last year we have been holding independent camps for youth from orphanages nationwide. We teach things that would have been naturally taught if they had parents. Over two nights and three days, we carefully teach how to read utility bills, how to write part-time job and housing contracts, how to respond if accidentally involved in a crime, and how to handle requests to lend your name when someone wants to open a phone line.

- Is it effective?

▲At first, they show attitudes like, ‘Why on earth are we doing this?’ But when they go home, they cry saying, "If I had parents, I would have learned these things too." Last year, we held this camp five times with 50 people each time. When parting, we create a group chat. We tell them to leave messages there when they feel really distressed and want to die. And actually, even when they are taking medication and foaming at the mouth, they contact us. The children call the center ‘maternal grandmother’s house.’ On lonely days like holidays when they have no family, everyone gathers at the center to cook and clean together and spend time. Fortunately, nowadays there are so many volunteers that it is hard to refuse them.

Sangmi Park, Dean of Healing Campus The Gonggam, recently sat in front of the bookshelf with her recent books at Healing Campus The Gonggam in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

- Good deeds don’t always have reasons, but is there a particular reason you devote your heart to this?

▲I think it’s because their situations overlap with my adolescence. When I was in middle school, my family’s financial situation worsened and my parents fought a lot. I couldn’t sleep all night thinking I was born to make my mom and dad suffer. At school, I was a kid who only slept. My grades dropped from top to lower ranks. At that time, the hospital diagnosed me with severe Graves’ disease. It’s a disease where the immune system collapses, and the doctor said, "This child is at a level where crawling is difficult." As a result, I couldn’t enter a humanities high school and had to retake the exam, during which I experienced the harsh gaze faced by out-of-school youth.

- That must have been a painful time.

▲Back then, retaking high school entrance exams was rare. I was so afraid that my life would end there. At such times, I immersed myself in books. I went to the Busan City Library every day and devoured world literature collections and Korean literature collections within a year. I also wrote a ‘Diary of a Female Student Retaking the Exam’ every day. I submitted this to a high school student short novel contest after entering high school and won awards wherever I submitted. Thanks to that, I became a literary talent student and was able to come to Seoul.

- Still, I heard you suffered severe depression during university.

▲It was very painful being a local student living alone in Seoul. The burden of worrying about tuition and living expenses while working part-time was heavy, and in my senior year, my father, whom I relied on emotionally, passed away. At that time, I decided to die, got soju, and swallowed sleeping pills. Fortunately, I didn’t die and woke up alone in my studio apartment after three days, but when I checked my pager, there was no contact. I realized how solitary death happens. This is also why I take in children in urgent situations now.

Silver Button received from the YouTube channel 'Park Sangmi Radio' and a painting gifted by students. Currently, the YouTube channel has over 240,000 subscribers.

- What has been your greatest personal challenge in life?

▲At 34, I quit everything I was doing and chose graduate school in psychology. Before starting a PhD in Korean literature, I asked myself, "Are you happy?" The answer was "No." I was always poor, had to save money, and studied to avoid being ignored because I had nothing to boast about. I suffered from depression and panic disorder. At that time, I wanted to help people like me, so I went to graduate school for psychology. Everyone around me said it was too late. They said even if I became a doctor, I couldn’t be a part-time lecturer. But my strength is not listening to others (laughs). I challenged it as I wished.

- It seems that challenge was successful.

▲From then on, I began to lead my life in the direction I wanted. Thinking back, the world never recognized me first. When I went to study in Germany at 36, the original eligibility was for those under 30 with German proficiency. I explained in ten pages what benefits Germany would gain by selecting me, had it translated by a professional translator, and sent it. I was accepted in the end. When you are not bound, there is so much to do. During my study abroad in Germany, I even contacted the Chosun Ilbo and Kyunghyang Shinmun to express my desire to contribute articles. Fortunately, I got the opportunity and conducted the first interview with BTS, who were gaining popularity in Germany at the time. I remember BTS saying, "Noona, please write the interview well" (laughs). I keep knocking on doors for what I want to do. "I can do it," "Give me a chance," and doors that seemed closed open.

- How do you define the meaning of your life?

▲It is saving lives. If I had succeeded in my past extreme attempt, I wouldn’t be here now. Because I survived, all things now exist. It’s the same for others. If you decide to escape death and live meaningfully, everyone can live a life beyond that. Since then, I have helped over 10,000 people. Thinking that those people will save another 10,000 makes me very happy. Children who have had even one good experience find it hard to go down the wrong path. There are many adults willing to help with that. I want to create a big stage where that can happen.

- What would you say to those hesitating to take on challenges to encourage them?

▲It’s never too late. You can start now. Among friends who tried to stop me at 34 saying it was too late, many later entered cyber universities and started new lives. Especially women, don’t be bound by age. There are many paths, but among them, psychological counseling is a profession where all kinds of life experiences become qualifications. Starting in your 50s is enough. Psychological counseling blooms in your 60s. If you look around, there are many jobs where my experience and age become qualifications. Environment, money, and ideas are not the problems. The real problem is the ability to act. I always emphasize, "Only action becomes skill."

Dean Park Sang-mi of Healing Campus The Gonggam

is a psychological counselor and cultural psychologist. She is currently a professor in the interdisciplinary program at Hanyang University Graduate School, vice president and training supervisor of the Korean Meaning Therapy Association, and dean of the psychological treatment education institution ‘Healing Campus The Gonggam.’ She majored in literature, counseling psychology, popular culture, and cultural psychology, and earned her doctorate at Hanyang University. Selected as a DAAD scholar by the German Academic Exchange Service, she conducted research in Germany. After experiencing the remarkable therapeutic effects of Viktor Frankl’s ‘Meaning Therapy (Logotherapy)’ in Germany, she has been leading training and education in meaning therapy.