Any teacher who wants to receive psychological support can get it wherever they want

All faculty members who wish to take a psychological test within the second semester will be able to receive psychological counseling and specialist treatment at a location of their choice based on the test results.

On the 15th, the ‘Ministry of Education-Ministry of Health and Welfare Joint Task Force to Support Teacher Mental Health’ (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Task Team) prepared and announced a ‘Teacher Mental Health Recovery Support Plan’ for the teaching community suffering from collective depression at the Seoul Government Complex on the 15th.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare are organizing and operating a joint task force under the judgment that it is urgent to restore teachers’ mental health as a series of unfortunate choices made by teachers have occurred.

On the 15th, in the briefing room of the annex of the Seoul Government Complex, Kim Yeon-seok, Director of the Ministry of Education’s Responsible Education Policy Office, is presenting ‘Measures to Support Teacher Mental Health Recovery’. (Photo = Ministry of Education)

According to this plan, psychological tests, in-depth counseling, and professional treatment will be available to teachers in the way they want.

Psychological tests can be done online or by visiting the Teacher Healing Support Center of each city/provincial office of education or the Ministry of Health and Welfare Mental Health Welfare Center operated at the metropolitan/provincial/provincial/si/county/district level.

If counseling is required as a result of a psychological test, a counseling (healing) program can be provided at the Teacher Healing Support Center. Teachers who wish to do so can also undergo in-depth counseling with private experts linked to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Teachers in crisis who require medical treatment will be provided treatment by a psychiatric specialist affiliated with the Ministry of Education. Teachers can receive treatment at a location of their choice, such as at a cooperative hospital affiliated with the Ministry of Education or at a specialized hospital near their residence.

All treatment costs will be supported by the Ministry of Education and provincial and provincial offices of education, and the Ministry of Education has decided to secure additional budget to provide support.

In schools with many teachers in need of counseling (healing), the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s peace of mind bus is deployed to provide on-site psychological counseling.

Among these, kindergarten and special education teachers with relatively high work stress, homeroom teachers of lower elementary grades, and teachers in the at-risk group who are suffering from after-effects of the accident (trauma) due to experience reporting child abuse can receive psychological counseling first from the 25th to the fourth week of October. A period was set so that

The Ministry of Education sets this period as a kind of recommendation to prevent bottlenecks, and in addition to those who are prioritized for psychological counseling, teachers who believe their mental health is at a level that requires prompt action can get tested and take necessary measures at any time.

In addition, the joint task force is a lifeline (1588-9191) that provides emergency psychological counseling for high-risk teachers who feel suicidal, and a suicide prevention hotline that provides emergency psychological counseling through teacher online communities (communities) that are widely accessed by teachers, teacher organizations, and education office websites. Counseling numbers such as (1393) and mental health crisis hotline (1577-0199) are posted at all times.

In addition, if a school where a suicidal accident occurs wishes, we plan to quickly deploy psychological support experts to assist with recovery to normal life and prevent the spread of extreme choices.

In order to systematically support the mental health of teachers, this plan also includes a plan to develop a customized psychological test tool exclusively for teachers for a specific occupational group (teaching) for the first time, as well as a plan to regularize psychological tests for teachers every two years.

The Ministry of Education plans to provide schools with a ‘list of support institutions and hospitals’ by the 19th, which specifies the names and locations of institutions and hospitals where psychological tests, counseling and treatment can be received.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Joo-ho said, “Recovering teachers’ mental health is the first step to normalizing public education,” and added, “We will continue to operate a joint task force between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to discover and support support measures that teachers can feel firsthand.”

Kim Yeon-seok, head of the Ministry of Education’s Responsible Education Policy Department, who attended the briefing on this day, said, “Through weekly meetings with field teachers, we will continue to provide opportunities to candidly discuss policies desired by field teachers.” He added, “We will continue to provide fundamental information that teachers can feel firsthand. “We promise to make efforts at all government levels, including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to bring about change,” he said.

Inquiries: Teacher Policy Division, Responsible Education Policy Office, Ministry of Education (044-203-6489), Mental Health Management Division, Mental Health Policy Director, Ministry of Health and Welfare (044-202-3872)