Teacher Chang Youth Counseling Center (
Hung Chin-chu (
Both couples have been educators, volunteers and school counselors at the youth center for over 20 years.
"We have both benefited from the center as much as youths have benefited from us," Hung said.
"The center means so much to us because my husband and I met on the job and we've learned so much about relationships, families and life from the people we help."
Problems suffered by Taiwan's youth, Yung said, have changed dramatically over the years.
"We used to deal with a lot of problems associated with relationships and families, but now we see more problems to do with sex, jobs, marriages, divorce and people doing business in China."
The non-profit center -- attached to the KMT sponsored China Youth Corps (
Since its inception the youth center has served more than 1.4 million people, its network of hotlines has increased from one to 32, and the number of centers has jumped from one to 14.
The number of volunteer workers has gone up from two to 1,019, according to Lee Shih-chen (
The "6180" hotline responded to 61,481 people in 1999, a big increase from the 4,094 people it first served 30 years ago.
The hotline has its last four digits set at 6180, because this is similar to the Chinese pronunciation of "happy to help you" (
The center was the island's first local organization to introduce the idea of youth counseling, Lee said. "Counseling (
The center also pioneered a youth outreach program: "We used to have Teacher Chang going out on the street, or places where young people liked to hang out, to try to talk with them and make friends with them," Lee said.
This program did not last long, however, folding after four years. But, in 1996, the center set up an on-line counseling system and this has since drawn responses frommore than 3,000 people from all over the world.
"Teacher Chang, has a special meaning," Lee said. "The Chinese have a saying that goes 'teacher for a day, father for a life.' Teachers mean a lot in Chinese culture."
"Also, Chang is one of the most popular Chinese last names and it has a meaning of opening up and marching forward."
It is not easy to be a Teacher Chang, according to Lee. First, he said, potential candidates have to be college graduates to apply for the job.
They have to undertake a 200-hour training program and pass three major tests in three different periods, with each period lasting two to three months.
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