The Land of the Morning Calm

A busy morning making arrangements for a group of Korean visitors. They work in mental health services in the province around Seoul, and were particularly keen to see how our community services function.

My knowledge of Korea is very limited - I suspect many of us would struggle to go beyond their split country, and the south's 'made in Korea' economic miracle, with Samsung and LG shining bright in electronics and Kia and Hyundai powering the car market.

Certainly, in terms of mental health services, our initial reaction was to stress our frustrations with the UK system, with different organisations, professions and geographies.

So it was fascinating to learn that Korea, despite being a rich and successful country, is still very much stuck with a culture of stigmatising mental health, and hospitalising those who need treatment.

An unintended consequence of the visit was that we actually left feeling quite good about the progress we have made - maybe we should have a little more pride about things labelled 'made in UK'?