'Hospital-type Wee Center' Opens in Incheon to Support Students in Mental Health Crisis

The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 28th that it has opened a 'hospital-type Wee Center' at Incheon Chamsarang Hospital to support students experiencing emotional and behavioral crises.

The center is a convergence-type institution that provides both inpatient treatment and alternative education for students facing mental health crises, and its official name is 'Chamsarang Dodam School.' It can accommodate a total of 16 middle and high school students, including 4 for emergency hospitalization and 12 for commissioned hospitalization. The center offers healing and educational programs tailored to the individual characteristics of each student.

The Office of Education remodeled the hospital building to create 16 beds, special classrooms, and counseling rooms. The curriculum consists of general subjects such as Korean and social studies, as well as therapy-centered courses including dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness training, family group therapy, and social skills training.

At the opening ceremony of the 'Hospital-type Wee Center Chamsarang Dodam School' held on the 27th at Incheon Chamsarang Hospital, Do Sunghoon, Superintendent of Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education (fifth from the right in the front row), is taking a commemorative photo with center officials. Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education.

The Office of Education plans to provide up to 6 million won in treatment support per hospitalized student and will offer follow-up care through mental health professionals for three months after discharge.

In addition to the hospital-type Wee Center, Incheon Chamsarang Hospital also operates healing-type alternative education and mental health school support programs.

Do Sunghoon, Superintendent of Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education, stated, "I hope the hospital-type Wee Center will become more than just a treatment space and will be a place where children can recover their lives and dream again."

Meanwhile, with the recent revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, it has become possible to provide emergency counseling and treatment support to students in crisis based on expert judgment. Accordingly, the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education plans to continue expanding its integrated support system.