Dr. Oksoon Cho is the Chicago Mental Health Institute founder and an assistant professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Moody Bible Institute. She teaches counseling students, supervises counselors, and provides counseling to community people. Her diverse experiences in Play Therapy, Child & Family Counseling, and Counselor Education and Supervision in the US and South Korea were significant resources for advocating racial and ethnic minorities' mental health. Dr. Cho began her career as a play therapist in 2000 and became a licensed professional counselor in South Korea. She worked as a psychotherapist in a hospital setting and taught college students.

After moving to the US in 2010 to further expand her career to Counselor Education & Supervision, she recognized the lack of mental health support for Korean-American immigrants like herself. This experience led her to found Chicago Mental Health Institute after she earned her doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Cho has provided culturally responsive mental health services and mental health education for Korean Americans and diverse people from different backgrounds.

While she continues to find more ways to provide mental health service for the community through the institute, she decided to train mental health first aiders for community people who are emotionally in crisis. Dr. Cho revised the Mental Health First Aid workshop developed by the National Council for Behavioral Health based on Korean culture and language once she was certified as an instructor of the Mental Health First Aid workshop. The culturally responsive mental health first aid workshop helped the Korean community improve their understanding of mental health and reduce the stigma of mental illness.