Located within the Suncheon Provincial Medical Center
The South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency held an opening ceremony Tuesday for its Eastern Region Maeum Donghaeng Center, a mental health support facility for officers, at the Suncheon Provincial Medical Center, with about 20 attendees including Medical Center Director Min Yeong-don.
The Maeum Donghaeng Center is a dedicated facility that supports officers' mental health through prevention, counseling and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) arising from duties such as responding to crime scenes. It is the second such center in South Jeolla Province, following one opened in Mokpo in the western region.
Two licensed clinical psychologists are stationed at the Eastern Region center, providing psychological counseling, assessments, referrals for treatment and medical care, and mental health education. The Suncheon Provincial Medical Center supports the center with psychiatric consultations, monitoring and advisory services.
The agency first opened a Maeum Donghaeng Center at Mokpo Central Hospital in 2019, making the Suncheon facility its second in the province and the 20th of its kind nationwide.
"With the new center established in Suncheon, the hub of the eastern region of the planned Gwangju-South Jeolla integrated special city, accessibility and convenience for officers in the eastern area will improve significantly," agency chief Ko Beom-seok said. "We will redouble our efforts to manage the mental health of our officers through specialized institutions."
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