Gumi City Operates Nation's First "Mom Rider" Joint Mental Health Emergency Response Center

Grand Prize for Gyeongbuk Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Project
Protecting Citizens' Lives Amid Crisis
"Our Neighborhood Mind Keeper, Mom Rider"

Gumi City in North Gyeongsang Province received the grand prize at the "2025 Gyeongsangbuk-do Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Project Achievement Conference" held on December 8.

This recognition is significant as it demonstrates that the city’s ongoing community mental health care policies have led to tangible changes.

Left: Director of Health Policy Bureau, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Right: Director of Gumi Health Center / Provided by Gumi City Hall

In particular, the suicide rate in 2024 decreased by 10.2% compared to the previous year, dropping from 32.3 to 29.0 per 100,000 people. This improvement in statistics is evidence that policy support has reached and impacted the daily lives of individual citizens.

Gumi City has been implementing the "Our Neighborhood Mind Keeper, Mom Rider" initiative, which is the first in the nation to involve delivery workers as life guardians. This policy, designed to detect crisis signals early within citizens’ daily lives, has produced concrete results, including 53 mental health screenings, the training of 24 life guardians, and the identification and referral of 5 high-risk cases.

The "Joint Mental Health Emergency Response Center," the first of its kind to be operated by a local government, has also significantly strengthened the city’s response system. As of November this year, the center handled 217 on-site dispatches and 1,230 phone consultations, and expanded its coverage to neighboring areas to further reinforce the emergency response network.

The one-stop system that connects emergency response, medical support, follow-up, and case management is considered effective in securing the golden hour for intervention.

Im Myungseop, Director of Gumi Health Center, stated, "This award is the result of collaboration among administration, field workers, and the local community," adding, "We plan to further advance early detection, emergency response, and support for vulnerable groups to build a mental health safety net that citizens can truly feel."

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