Professor Kwak as a child psychiatrist has been active in clinical, academic, and social activity in the field of child and adolescent mental health, women's mental health, and community mental health. When she was in charge of the director of the Department of Child Psychiatry of the National Mental Health Center and a professor at Jeju National University, she developed the National Autism Center, and Jeju Mental Health Center and laid the foundation of school mental health services to promote child and adolescent mental health.
As the President of Korea Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and President of the Korean Academy of Woman Psychiatry, she implemented services supporting North Korean woman defectors, and movements for “Society without Violence” and consistently has spoken out for the prevention of school violence and suicide. Collaborating with people in Family court including judges, she launched the Korean Society for Child Rights Advocacy in 2017’