PRACTICE

After earning my LMSW, I joined the social service department at Monarch Immigrant Services, where I primarily offered benefits counseling (including Medicaid and food stamps) and provided translation and interpretation support for Korean clients. 

This role allowed me to engage with a diverse group of immigrant older adults, which challenged my assumptions and deepened my understanding of the varied experiences within immigrant communities. 

It was also a time when I realized how essential personal resources—such as health, financial security, housing, and language ability—are to older adults’ overall well-being. Additionally, I served as a Missouri-certified marketplace navigator, helping clients identify and enroll in affordable health insurance plans.

In 2020, I returned to Seoul, South Korea, and began working as a Licensed Social Worker Level II. My work focused on identifying vulnerable older adults living alone through home visits and assessments, while also managing direct care workers and coordinating services based on each individual’s needs. 

The picture above captures the road I walked almost every week for these visits. Walking those paths made me think more deeply about how housing and neighborhood environments influence older adults’ well-being. 

It was also during this time that I realized social isolation and loneliness emerged as one of the most significant challenges among this population.

In 2021, after receiving my Licensed Social Worker Level I credential, I took on the role of project manager. My main responsibility was to implement a community care model in one district of Seoul. This involved hiring and training direct care workers, as well as conducting visits to vulnerable older adults and households to identify their most pressing needs. 

Once again, issues related to housing and loneliness emerged as particularly significant. I coordinated home modification and cleaning services and also connected older adults to regular phone call and visit programs. 

This experience became the point at which I began to crystallize my current research agenda—focusing on social isolation and loneliness within the broader context of housing and neighborhood environments.