Gyeongbuk Office of Education to Provide Up to 500,000 KRW for Emotional and Psychological Counseling for Daycare Children

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education (Superintendent Lim Jongshik) announced on June 13 that it will implement the "Support Project for Emotional and Psychological Counseling and Therapy Expenses for Kindergarten Children" to help promote healthy emotional development in children attending daycare centers, and to detect and treat psychological difficulties at an early stage.

This project aims to identify a variety of issues that may arise during early childhood development?such as psychological and emotional instability, difficulties in language interaction, attention deficit, and conflicts among peers?at an early stage, and to provide professional intervention. The goal is to support children so they can grow up healthily in a stable environment.

Gyeongbuk Office of Education

The emotional and psychological counseling support focuses on providing emotional stability to children, improving problem behaviors, enhancing social adaptation skills, alleviating the caregiving burden on guardians, and comprehensively improving the quality of counseling services. Ultimately, it aims to support children in leading happy lives at daycare centers.

At daycare centers, teachers observe children's behavior during educational activities and consult with guardians to identify children in need of support. Applications can be submitted to the Gyeongbuk Office of Education by June 23. After a review process, selected children will receive one-on-one, customized professional counseling and therapy services. Counseling (therapy) expenses of 50,000 KRW per session, up to a maximum of 10 sessions (a total of 500,000 KRW), will be provided for each child.

Selected children can receive various forms of individualized emotional and psychological counseling at specialized institutions, including play therapy, art therapy, and music therapy. If necessary, support may also include language development delay interventions and sensory integration training, allowing for a broad range of psychological treatments. In particular, customized counseling tailored to each child's unique characteristics and condition will be provided through interventions focused on improving social skills, self-esteem, language, and play.

However, children who are already receiving therapy support through the Ministry of Health and Welfare's voucher program for special education, or who are participating in similar projects, are excluded from this support. Therefore, applicants should take note of this when applying.

With the upcoming integration of early childhood education and care, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education is pursuing various policies to ensure that all children receive high-quality education and care, regardless of the institution they attend. This emotional and psychological counseling and therapy expense support is also expected to receive a positive response from both the field and parents, as it is a demand-oriented, customized service.

Lim Jongshik, Superintendent of the Gyeongbuk Office of Education, stated, "I hope this project will help alleviate the burden of using counseling institutions and provide practical support for the development of children through preventive intervention in emotional and psychological issues during early childhood." He added, "We will continue to create an environment of emotional and psychological support so that no child is left behind and all can grow together."