"Hello Inside Your Heart?"... Nowon-gu, COVID-19 Blue Screening for All Residents

From the 25th, Nowon-gu Office Newsletter Conducts 'Mental Health Self-Diagnosis' to Overcome COVID-19 Blues... Psychological Counseling Linked for High-Risk Cases After Self-Assessment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is conducting a ‘COVID-19 Blue Mental Health Self-Diagnosis Evaluation’ for all residents to help those who are mentally struggling due to COVID-19.

The self-diagnosis method is simple. Residents can perform a self-assessment in about 5 minutes using the mental health self-diagnosis evaluation form published in the district newsletter issued on the 25th of every month by the district office.

The mental health evaluation form is a questionnaire developed to assess feelings of depression and other mental states. If the self-diagnosis result shows a depression score of 10 or higher, it is considered a severe depressive state.

Residents with severe depressive states can call the Nowon-gu Public Health Center number listed below the questionnaire to be connected with psychological counseling staff at the local community service center for continuous case management.

Nowon-gu currently operates 56 psychological counseling staff members across 19 community service centers. For high-risk groups, systematic mental health counseling and treatment services are provided in cooperation with the Nowon Mental Health Welfare Center.

Additionally, the district is conducting a mental healing project for residents through the ‘2020 Mental Health Checkup and Counseling Support Project.’ This project supports mental health checkups and psychological counseling in collaboration with eight local medical institutions over three sessions. The support amount for checkup and counseling fees is up to 80,000 KRW. The first session includes screening and evaluation for depression, while the second and third sessions provide in-depth psychiatric counseling before medication treatment.

Any resident aged 19 or older can visit a psychiatric clinic and receive free consultations with a psychiatric specialist. Based on the checkup results, high-risk groups (treatment groups) are connected to the local mental health welfare center or referred to professional treatment. Continuous monitoring will also be conducted for those who consent to participate in follow-up services.

The district is conducting a living condition survey for single male households aged 50 to 64 until the end of August. This is a mental health evaluation for 1,300 single male households. Based on the survey results, the district plans to implement suicide prevention and customized solitary death prevention projects, including care support for high-risk groups.

Furthermore, to support young people experiencing lethargy and depression due to economic recession and employment difficulties, a youth psychological support service started in July. This project was created for young people who have psychological and emotional problems but have difficulty accessing counseling institutions due to high counseling costs.

The target group is young people aged 19 to 34 from households with an income below 150% of the median income. Since May, the district has recruited 30 young people from the area for this service. Psychological counseling is conducted once a week for 60 minutes per session, with a total of 24 sessions over six months (four sessions per month). If additional support is needed, re-evaluation allows service use for up to one year.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, stated, “It is very important to detect and treat risk factors that harm mental health early,” and added, “We will actively identify residents who are mentally struggling due to COVID-19 and provide various services.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.