Gyeonggi-do Provides Annual Mental Health Treatment Support of 360,000 KRW for Youth

Gyeonggi Province is expanding the target beneficiaries of the ‘Mind Care’ program, which supports outpatient treatment costs for mental illness, to include adolescents.

Mind Care is a program that provides annual outpatient treatment support of 360,000 KRW per person to young adults and the elderly residing in Gyeonggi Province, regardless of registration at mental health welfare centers or income criteria. The elderly eligible for support are those aged 65 and older, and the age range for young adults has been expanded from 19-34 years to 15-34 years this year, including adolescents.

The reason Gyeonggi Province expanded support to adolescents is due to the recent continuous increase in suicide rates among teenagers.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

According to the cause of death statistics announced by Statistics Korea in 2023, the suicide rate among teenagers in the province increased significantly from 5.4 per 100,000 population in 2018 to 7.6 in 2022.

Gyeonggi Province registers and manages those receiving treatment cost support so that they can receive continuous counseling and treatment at mental health welfare centers in each city and county.

Gyeonggi Province plans to guide and expand publicity of the program to related institutions such as schools to make it easier for adolescents to access mental health services.

Kim Byeong-man, Director of Mental Health at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "As mental health issues among adolescents are increasing, we will do our best to expand the Mind Care support targets so that adolescents can resolve emotional problems and regain their mental health."

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