Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) College of Nursing volunteer club "Bongsarang" (President Lim Gyu-min, third-year student, Department of Nursing) produced and distributed household items made from used coffee grounds together with people with mental health conditions, taking the lead in environmental protection and reducing stigma toward mental health conditions.

Bongsarang recently conducted activities combining environmental protection and mental health awareness together with the "Seonhyang Volunteer Group" of the mental rehabilitation facility Areumdawoon Sesang. This activity, implemented as an ESG activation competitive grant project by the Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province Social Service Institute, involved nursing students and people with mental health conditions participating together in all stages from planning and production to promotion and distribution.

In June they planned the project, and beginning in July the students started full-scale activities. They collected and kneaded coffee grounds with Areumdawoon Sesang members and facility staff to make everyday items such as keyrings and doorbells. Finished items were accompanied by message cards handwritten by the members, conveying their feelings and stories to the local community.

On October 2, Bongsarang participated in a Mental Health Day event, and on October 13–14 they carried out a mental health awareness campaign in front of the JBNU College of Nursing main gate targeting approximately 100 students from the Department of Nursing. While distributing the items they had made, the students delivered the message that people with mental health conditions are members of society with their own abilities and individuality and are neighbors who live together with us.

This activity is significant because it moved away from the conventional one-way method of raising awareness by providing information about mental illness and instead focused on collaboration between people with mental health conditions and university students toward a shared goal and mutual understanding. In particular, it served as an opportunity for nursing students—future healthcare professionals—to move beyond viewing people with mental health conditions simply as subjects who need help and care, and to recognize them as equal members of society and partners in collaboration.

A participating Bongsarang student said, "I learned that people with mental health conditions possess diverse abilities and are not always individuals who must be helped." She added, "Working together, I felt that we are equal neighbors who can learn from and help one another."

The sharing extended beyond the university into the local community. Bongsarang and the Seonhyang Volunteer Group distributed the keyrings and doorbells they made at Mega MGC Coffee Jeonbuk Sadaebugo Branch and at Cafe Eun-kyung in Uwa-dong 2-ga, Jeonju, spreading their message of mental health awareness.

The operator of a participating cafe said customers also responded positively to the works made jointly by members and students, and that the activity led them to view people with mental health conditions not with pity or anxiety but as neighbors living together in the community.

Last year, Bongsarang ran a program called "Bongsarang, Connecting Youth," which brought together young people with mental health conditions and nursing students. The program's achievements were recognized with an Encouragement Award in the "2026 Outstanding Community Mental Health Program for Mental Rehabilitation Facilities."

Bongsarang continues to build experiences of mutual understanding and cooperation through ongoing meetings and joint activities with people with mental health conditions, working to reduce stigma and to promote a culture of living together in the community.