BTS's Suga Partners with Severance Hospital to Launch Autism Treatment Center

Severance Hospital and BTS's Suga (real name Min Yoongi) are joining forces to establish a specialized treatment center dedicated to supporting the treatment and social independence of individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

On the 23rd, Severance Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony on the first floor of the Jejung Building for the 'Min Yoongi Treatment Center,' aimed at treating children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. The center will provide support for mental health through language, psychological, and behavioral therapies, and will operate various programs that link clinical practice with research.

Even while actively promoting with BTS, Suga has consistently engaged in charitable activities and has shown ongoing interest in mental health, psychological and behavioral issues, particularly adolescent depression. He has sought ways to leverage his musical talent and influence to provide assistance.

In November of last year, Suga began communicating with Professor Cheon Geun-ah, a leading authority in child psychiatry at Severance Hospital. Through multiple meetings, they recognized that patients with autism spectrum disorder require customized treatment throughout their life cycle, which is difficult to achieve with existing short-term interventions.

They agreed on the necessity of establishing a specialized treatment center capable of providing long-term support for over 10 years to bring positive changes to autism spectrum disorder symptoms. Suga expressed his intention to donate KRW 5 billion (approx. $3.7 million USD) to Severance Hospital. This donation marks the largest contribution ever made by an artist to the entire Yonsei Medical Center, including Severance Children's Hospital.

Subsequently, from late last year to early this year, Professor Cheon and Suga discussed the construction of the treatment center and the development of a music-based social skills training program for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Based on these discussions, they developed the 'MIND' program, a social skills group program incorporating musical content.

The MIND program is an acronym that stands for 'Music' to enhance interaction and sensory experiences, 'Interaction' to provide opportunities for forming and communicating social relationships, 'Network' to learn the process of naturally forming relationships through community, and 'Diversity' to respect individual diversity and learn to coexist socially.

Children participating in this program play instruments, sing, write lyrics, and express their emotions and thoughts through music and writing.



From March to June this year, Suga took part in the program development by meeting with children with autism spectrum disorder over weekends. He played instruments like the guitar and encouraged the children to match rhythms and harmonies, facilitating interaction and emotional expression through music. He also taught them to play instruments themselves.

As the program progressed, the children's emotional and verbal expression noticeably increased, and they developed social skills through collaboration and waiting processes with other children. Children like Oh (10 years old) and Lee (12 years old), who showed little response during language therapy, demonstrated talent by selecting instruments and playing in rhythm.

During ensemble sessions, diverse emotional expressions emerged. Kim (18 years old), who rarely expressed language or emotions, began to show emotions through facial expressions during collaboration with other children and responded to the therapist's attention and praise.

This program has proven effective in helping children with autism spectrum disorder, who have limited language abilities, to form social relationships.

In the future, the Min Yoongi Treatment Center plans to enhance the MIND program and establish a self-reliant music project model. To ensure the continuous operation of the program, they will systematize training courses for experts in each treatment field to strengthen the program's sustainability and professionalism.

Once the construction of the Min Yoongi Treatment Center is completed in September, regular program sessions will be expanded and newly established. They will operate various therapy sessions, including music-based social skills training for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities. Existing programs like ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) and language therapy will also be expanded.

Additionally, clinical research, academic paper presentations, and the publication of program manuals will be pursued to objectively verify the effectiveness of the MIND program.

Professor Cheon Geun-ah expressed, "Beyond financial support, I sincerely thank Suga for his genuine talent donation and volunteer work over the past few months. I was deeply impressed by Suga's consistent sincerity and intelligence. The ultimate goal of the Min Yoongi Treatment Center and the MIND program is to help children with autism spectrum disorder grow into independent and healthy members of society through music and to eliminate prejudice against autism spectrum disorder and improve awareness of disabilities."

Suga shared, "Through the program preparation and volunteer work with Professor Cheon over the past seven months, I deeply realized that music can be a precious channel for expressing the heart and communicating with the world. Being able to participate in the treatment process for children with autism spectrum disorder was a great gratitude and happiness, and I will continue to contribute so that more children can be part of our society."

Meanwhile, Suga was discharged from his alternative military service on the 21st. With Suga's discharge, all BTS members have completed their military service.

Photo = Severance Hospital

This article was originally published in Korean on Xportsnews and was translated into English using AI.

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