How do therapeutic spaces contribute to repairing human relationships after the MV Sewol shipwreck?

Abstract

This study examines how efforts to establish stable human relationships centered on therapeutic spaces helped a local community cope or adjust after the MV Sewol shipwreck. In the wake of this disaster, various human relationships in the affected community were shattered. The Korean government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) set up seven therapeutic spaces to help people restore these relationships. This paper focuses mainly on NGOs’ therapeutic spaces, which share significant common characteristics. First, each therapeutic space encourages care recipients to divert their attention away from their sense of guilt regarding deaths resulting from the disaster and restore the individual's relationship with themselves through nonverbal activities. Second, the spaces try to recover individuals’ relationships with others through therapeutic encounters and interventions that embody unconditional devotion, sincerity, and understanding for both direct and indirect victims of the shipwreck. Third, these spaces establish a therapeutic network, thereby sharing recipient information and coordinating the integration of each resident. Fourth, these shared spaces created and reinforced a moral framework of reciprocity, dedication, and humanity in the community, thereby enhancing social awareness and empathy. In other words, these spaces forged a healing culture that made Koreans more sensitive to social issues and helped people move in a positive direction.