[All] A donation of 5 billion is amazing.

BTS' Suga (real name Min Yoongi) has spread his positive influence through a historic donation.

Severance Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony for the 'Min Yoon-ki Treatment Center' on the first floor of Jejungwan on June 23rd for the treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. The center will support the mental health of children and adolescents through language, psychological, and behavioral therapies, and will operate various programs that link clinical and research.

Even while promoting with BTS, Suga has consistently been active in charity work and has taken an ongoing interest in mental health, psychological and behavioral issues, especially depression in adolescents. He has been seeking ways to help through his talent and ability in music.

Last November, Suga had the opportunity to communicate with Professor Chun Geun-ah of the Department of Pediatrics at Severance Hospital, an authority in the field of pediatric psychiatry. After several meetings, he learned that patients with autism spectrum disorder require customized treatment that fits their life cycle, but that it is difficult to achieve this with existing short-term therapeutic interventions.

In addition, he expressed his intention to donate 5 billion won to Severance Hospital, agreeing that in order to bring about positive changes in the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, it is necessary to establish a specialized treatment center that can provide mid- to long-term treatment for more than 10 years. This is the largest donation ever made by an artist, not only to Severance Children's Hospital but also to the entire Yonsei Medical Center.

Since then, Professor Chun and Suga have discussed the establishment of a treatment center and social skills training using music for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder from the end of last year to the beginning of this year. Based on this, they developed the 'MIND' program, a social skills group program that combines musical content with existing social skills training programs.

The MIND program is an acronym that contains the meaning of 'enhancing interaction and sensory experiences through music (Music), encountering opportunities to form social relationships and communicate (Interaction), learning the process of naturally forming relationships through a community (Network), and learning about a society that respects individual diversity and gets along together (Diversity).' Children who participate in this program play instruments, sing songs, write to music, and express their emotions and thoughts through music and writing.

From March to June of this year, Suga spent weekends meeting with children with autism spectrum disorder and participated in the development of the program. He played instruments such as the guitar himself, guiding the children to match rhythm and harmony, interact with music, and expand their emotional expression. He even went so far as to teach the children to play instruments themselves.

As the program progressed, the children’s emotions and language expressions increased significantly, and their social skills were trained through the process of cooperating with other children or waiting. Oh (10 years old) and Lee (12 years old), who did not respond actively when receiving only speech therapy, showed their talent in choosing instruments on their own and playing them in time. They also showed various emotional expressions during the process of playing together. Kim (18 years old), who plays the saxophone, had little language or emotional expression, but expressed the emotions that arose during the process of collaborating with other children through facial expressions and responded to the therapist’s interest and praise.

In the future, the Min Yoongi Treatment Center plans to further develop the MIND program and establish a self-reliant music project model. In order to continuously operate the program, it also plans to systematize the training process for experts in each treatment field to strengthen the program’s sustainability and expertise.

When the construction of the Min Yoon-ki Treatment Center is completed in September, regular program sessions will be expanded and newly established. Various treatment sessions will be operated, starting with social skills training using music for patients with autism spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities. Existing ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) and speech therapy will also be expanded. In addition, clinical research, academic paper presentations, and program manual publications will be promoted to objectively prove the effectiveness of the MIND program.

Professor Chun Geun-ah said, “Beyond the financial support, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the sincere talent donation and volunteer work that Suga has shown over the past several months. I have been deeply impressed by Suga’s consistent sincerity and intellectual attitude.” He added, “The ultimate goal of the Min Yoon-ki Treatment Center and the MIND program is to help children with autism spectrum disorder grow into independent beings and healthy members of society through the medium of music, and to eliminate prejudice against patients with autism spectrum disorder and improve awareness of the disability through this.”

Suga said, “Through the program preparation and volunteer work with Professor Cheon Geun-ah over the past seven months, I have deeply felt that music can be a valuable channel for expressing emotions and communicating with the world.” He added, “I am very grateful and happy that I was able to participate in the treatment process for children with autism spectrum disorder, and I will continue to work hard so that more children can become members of our society.”

Suga was discharged from his social service on June 21. He apologized again after his discharge in relation to the summary indictment he received in August of last year for driving an electric scooter while intoxicated and the summary order to pay a fine of 15 million won.

 

A donation of 5 billion is amazing.