Resilience and endurance are two traits honed in Youngeun Kim Psy.D. ’06 during her time at Wheaton College. 

An international student from South Korea, Kim never knew if she would have enough to pay for the next semester’s tuition. Studying clinical psychology in the doctoral program also stretched her intellectually and emotionally. “I was digging up all my past issues,” she said. 

At one point, Kim was writing her dissertation, working a full-time internship, and raising her infant son. She told her husband, as well as her advisor J. Derek McNeil, that she was ready to give up. Both encouraged her to finish. She eventually did. 

“I had to depend on God every minute,” Kim said. “But at the same time I experienced so much grace, peace, and tender care over me.” Today, Kim heads the Christian counseling program at Baekseok University in South Korea. Year by year, her understanding of teaching has morphed. “During my early years, I felt like I knew so much and had so much to teach. Now, I realize it’s not just about passing on information but about building people—stimulating students to create and cooperate with each other,” she said. 

At Wheaton, Kim participated in a study group focused on diversity and intercultural applications of psychology. She carries that spirit, along with a passion for underserved people, into her work today. “In Korea words are less important. It’s more about relationship and context,” Kim said. Doing psychotherapy by analyzing a client’s words alone would miss the point. “In the United States, you read the lines to understand. Here, you read between the lines to understand.”