Helen Hee Soon Chang Recognized by Worldwide Who's Who for Excellence in Counseling and Communications

    BARNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, November 1, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Helen Hee Soon Chang, Owner and Manager of Sejong Counselling and Communication Services, has been recognized by Worldwide Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in counseling and communications.

Ms. Chang has 19 years of professional experience, with 16 years as the owner and manager of Sejong Counselling and Communication Services. Over the years, she has established herself as an expert in counseling psychology, as well as intervention for hate crime victims, communication services, victimology, and developing self-help groups for hate crime victims. On a daily basis, she is responsible for planning program operations, organizing multicultural forums, and conducting research. Sejong Counselling and Communication Services is a counseling and communications practice that organizes community events and provides translation and interpretation services in addition to its counseling services.

While operating Sejong Counselling and Communication Services, Ms. Chang worked as a school trustee for the Burnaby Board of Education from 2005 until 2008. She worked as an assistant counselor of Chonam National University from 1981until 1982. Since 2010, she has spearheaded a petition drive to change the Canadian hate crime reporting system by raising awareness of multicultural issues.

Ms. Chang became involved in social justice as a university student, when she began taking the democratic principles she learned in class and applying them to everyday life. She worked on movements to provide free medical services to people residing in the inner city areas, and reinforced her belief that all people should have health care regardless of their income. Today, she can proudly say that 95-percent of Koreans have medical insurance and she is happy that her home country has established a universal health care plan that makes medical services accessible to almost everyone.

One of Ms. Chang's most memorable experiences was spending a summer helping rural farmers with their busy rice growing season, where she spent time with the children, played with them, and read to them until their parents were done after a long day at 7 p.m. Largely isolated from the rural experience from her city upbringing, she learned how government policies in the 1970s severely disadvantaged the agricultural sector in favor of labor-intensive manufactured exports in the industrial sector. By traveling to different rural areas every summer, her eyes were open to the effects of public policy on income disparity, and the effects of income disparity on individual families.

After arriving in Canada, Ms. Chang was busy raising her children, but continued helping new immigrants in her community. In the early 1990s, she encountered a disturbing case where a young boy was psychologically abused by his own teacher. The teacher pretended everything was fine with the student in class. One day the boy made a disturbing statement about he would rather go to heaven than go to school, and the mother investigated and found out her child had been a victim of bigotry through the teacher's emotional abuse. Victims of hate crime are on their own when it comes to defending themselves in Canada because the criminal justice system seldom officially designates them as victims of hate crime. Ms. Chang explains: "The hard reality is that they are living in hell because their predators never stop targeting and abusing them. That is why I began to work on this issue in 2010."

Looking back, Ms. Chang attributes her success to human relationships and providing efforts to improve society. She became involved in her profession because she participated in volunteer activities in her community, which led to her desire to become a professional counselor.

Ms. Chang received a Master of Arts in clinical and counseling psychology from Seoul National University in 1981, a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, and a Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1979 and 1977. In addition to her degrees, she is a certified member of the Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia (STIBC), and a certified translator and interpreter for English and Korean and vice versa. In order to remain in contact with other industry professionals, she became a member of the Canadian Psychological Association. In 2009, she received a certificate of recognition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade of South Korea. Furthermore, she was named as a volunteer by the year by the honorable Svend Robinson in 2001. In years to come, Ms. Chang will expand her business, continue in humanitarian efforts and earn a Ph.D.

About Worldwide Who's Who
With over 500,000 members representing every major industry, Worldwide Who's Who is a powerful networking resource that enables professionals to outshine their competition, in part through effective branding and marketing. Worldwide Who's Who employs similar public relations techniques to those utilized by Fortune 500 companies, making them cost-effective for members who seek to take advantage of its career enhancement and business advancement services.

Worldwide Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third-party endorsement of their accomplishments, and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, it offers an online networking platform where members can establish new professional relationships.

For more information, please visit http://www.worldwidewhoswho.com.

Contact:
Ellen Campbell
Director, Media Relations
[email protected]

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