{"id":2205613,"date":"2024-07-01T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T23:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2205613"},"modified":"2024-07-01T00:29:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T15:29:02","slug":"south-korea-tackles-mental-health-with-counseling-vouchers-amid-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/07\/south-korea-tackles-mental-health-with-counseling-vouchers-amid-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea tackles mental health with counseling vouchers amid challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korea\u2019s Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mohw.go.kr\/board.es?mid=a10503010100&amp;bid=0027&amp;cg_code=\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vouchers for professional psychological counseling services<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to citizens experiencing depression and anxiety through the \u201c2024 Nationwide Mental Health Investment Support Project\u201d starting Monday. The project aims to care for mental health, prevent chronic mental illnesses and reduce suicide and self-harm attempts. Eligible recipients include those referred by mental health institutions, those with moderate or higher levels of depression, young people who are transitioning out of the child welfare system, and youth who remain in the child welfare system or foster care beyond the typical age of emancipation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The counseling services will be provided by qualified professionals and classified into two levels based on expertise. Recipients can choose a service provider and receive eight one-on-one sessions within 120 days of voucher issuance. The government will cover 70 to 100% of the counseling costs, depending on the recipient\u2019s income level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>WHY IT MATTERS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This initiative is part of President Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.president.go.kr\/newsroom\/briefing\/LUDtAJnA\">efforts<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0to prioritize mental health, which includes a target of providing counseling to 1 million people before the end of his term in 2027. South Korea has the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/data.oecd.org\/healthstat\/suicide-rates.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">highest suicide rate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among OECD countries, and it is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mogef.go.kr\/nw\/rpd\/nw_rpd_s001d.do?mid=news405&amp;bbtSn=709973\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">primary cause of death<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among young people. Additionally, there were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hira.or.kr\/bbsDummy.do?pgmid=HIRAA020041000100&amp;brdScnBltNo=4&amp;brdBltNo=10627&amp;pageIndex=1&amp;pageIndex2=1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more than 1 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people who sought treatment for depression in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the project\u2019s success may be limited by South Korea\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/03\/why-south-korea-is-experiencing-an-overprescription-of-antidepressants\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">growing dependence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on antidepressants, overprescription by non-psychiatric physicians and pressure on mental health services infrastructure due to increasing demand. Additionally, national insurance payments are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/repository.hira.or.kr\/bitstream\/2019.oak\/3056\/2\/%EC%A0%95%EC%8B%A0%EC%A7%88%ED%99%98%20%EC%88%98%EA%B0%80%EC%B2%B4%EA%B3%84%20%EA%B0%9C%EC%84%A0%20%EB%B0%A9%EC%95%88.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">comparatively low<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for psychiatrists, which discourages them from offering extensive consultations or counseling, pushing them to reduce patient interaction times to accommodate more patients.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/culture-society\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Culture &amp; Society<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/domestic-politics\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea\u2019s Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide vouchers for professional psychological counseling services to citizens experiencing depression and anxiety through the \u201c2024 Nationwide Mental Health Investment Support Project\u201d starting Monday. The project aims to care for mental health, prevent chronic mental illnesses and reduce suicide and self-harm attempts. Eligible recipients include those referred [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2205614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[25,27],"class_list":["post-2205613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-culture-society","tag-domestic-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Korea tackles mental health with counseling vouchers amid challenges - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/07\/south-korea-tackles-mental-health-with-counseling-vouchers-amid-challenges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea tackles mental health with counseling vouchers amid challenges - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea\u2019s Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide vouchers for professional psychological counseling services to citizens experiencing depression and anxiety through the \u201c2024 Nationwide Mental Health Investment Support Project\u201d starting Monday. 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