“Healing” has become a buzzword in Korea following the “well-being” trend. Despite Korea’s economic success in a short period of time, many people are reluctant to say they are happy. Korea’s suicide rate has remained the highest among the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for eight years in a row from 2005 to 2012.

Experts said too much competition is a main factor for Koreans’ poor mental health. All age groups say they feel stressed in daily life, for different reasons. Among them, the biggest group under stress is the corporate workforce in their 20s to 50s, reaching 17 million. 

“Most Korean companies have a goal-driven, competitive and top-down hierarchical corporate culture. Under these circumstances, employees keep being pushed by multiple responsibilities without a chance to build sincere relationships or to express emotions at work,” Jung Hai-shin, CEO of Mindprism, a mental health counseling service provider for corporate workers, said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “It is like living with wearing different masks, most of which do not fit.”

Self-encountering approach

Jung, a licensed-neuropsychiatry doctor, set up Mindprism in 2004, focusing on mental health counseling for corporate executives, something new in a country where it is taboo to visit a hospital for treatment of mental health disorders.

“The turning point in my career was the financial crisis in the late 1990s. During that time, at the request of top management of a couple of leading Korean conglomerates, I had chances to offer one-on-one counseling to executives from those business groups, who were under stress to make decisions on complicated issues, including massive layoffs,” she said.

“From those experiences, I found that a number of the Korean workforce needed counseling for better work, but didn’t know it,” she said. Well-educated men are the most vulnerable as they were raised and trained to care more about their social recognition over other values, she added.

With the establishment of Mindprism, Jung also made efforts to develop an analytical method to check mental health for those who have little experience with opening up their minds or really looking at themselves.

“We developed the Self-Encounter program, or SE program, which helps clients to have repeated and in-depth ‘self-mirroring’ experiences,” Jung said.

“If you know who you are, then, you can have room to look around and build your own power to face challenges and difficulties,” she said.

Growing demand for counseling in the corporate world

With accelerating competition in the corporate world for survival amid globalization, not only executives but also employees are facing complicated issues at work. In line with the trend, the number of employers who are realizing the importance of the mental health of their entire workforce for better performance is on a steady rise.

To meet the growing demand, Mindprism has sought ways to offer its counseling services to the mass market. For this, Jung had another turning point last year by attracting personal investment from Kim Beom-soo, founder of Kakao Corp., a leading mobile messaging and gaming company in Korea.

“I met Kim as a client when he served as CEO of NHN. After joining the SE program, he contacted me again with ideas to expand the ‘self-healing business’ to the mass market,” Jung said. 

Following Kim’s investment, Mindprism developed the “My Mind Report” service at an affordable price at the end of last year. Instead of expensive one-on-one counseling, if a client joins the SE program, the company delivers a book-type report in two weeks, which is divided into three sections: five colors of my mind, mental disorder diagnosis and self-mirroring.

Last month, the company also launched a campaign titled “10 Million Workforce Mental Health Campaign.” The company also is preparing for a launch of the mobile version of the “My Mind Report” service within this year.

“One of the key messages to deliver to corporate workers through the campaign is the importance of knowing oneself,” Jung said. “I hope that people who are trying hard to be loved will realize the fact that it is enough to know themselves.”

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)