The October 2021 regular meet-up took place in the afternoon of October 23, and was a workshop with the theme "Won't you consider "the wellbeing of mind and body"?" The guest speaker was our Raccoon senior Dr. Kim Woe-Sook, who specializes in computer based testing (CBT) and psychosomatic medicine. Dr. Kim spoke about mental and physical maintenance through the perspective of well-being.

In the workshop Dr. Kim encouraged us to question the "self", guiding participants towards self-discovery using tools often used in psychology such as egograms and checklists, brain-maps and optical illusions. While following Dr. Kim's instructions and referring to the materials we had been given, we gained a greater awareness of our intentionality and behavioural patterns through quizzes and lists packed with information about CBT, charts, and activity sheets.

I think that well-being from the perspective of CBT and the links between awareness and behaviour are closely related. In everyday experiences and problem solving, part of the decision-making is done by processes involving cranial nerves and endocrines, and the other part by psychological processes. Based on these patterns of awareness and behaviour Dr. Kim introduced key terms such as self-compassion, behavioural rhythms, social support and mindfulness, and taught us concrete tactics to change our awareness.

Following that, the participants (including online participants) were split into three groups to discuss the topic of "choosing volunteers for an elderly home." Based on materials provided beforehand, we discussed the descriptions and qualifications of the applicants such as their work, age, gender, and personality. As well as clearly articulating our own opinion we had to discuss our thoughts as a group. After that, each of the three groups presented the reasons for our decision and the discussion that led up to it, as well as the changes in our thoughts throughout the process.

In just two hours our understanding of CBT and well-being that Dr. Kim introduced grew from that of grams and lists to a group discussion, from a personal issue to a social one, from self-recognition to community awareness. At the end of the session, office chief Tsunoda-san used leverage as an analogy to encourage us to overcome difficulties in life. In this era of information overload, there is a fragmentation of media, data and behaviour, and a decline in empathy has become cause for growing concern. With the extended period of restrictions and social distancing brought upon by the coronavirus there is an increased interest in physical and mental health. This workshop didn't just relieve some of the stress from dissertation writing, but also helped us to form real-time strategies for the present moment in which living itself has become difficult.


Chan Ya-hsun

Translated by Sonja Dale

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