Seoul's Gangseo-gu district has partnered with the Catholic University of Korea's Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital to step up mental health services for local residents, district mayor Jin Kyo-hoon announced.
The district signed a management and entrustment agreement with Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital for the operation of the Gangseo-gu Mental Health and Welfare Center. The agreement runs for three years, from July 1 through June 30, 2029.
Under the agreement, the Gangseo-gu Mental Health and Welfare Center will operate as a publicly mandated specialist institution run by Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, providing residents with more systematic and professional integrated mental health services.
Psychiatrist Kim Ha-yeon of Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital's department of psychiatry has been appointed director of the center and will oversee its overall operations. The appointment is expected to raise the quality of the center's programs by drawing on the expertise of a university hospital medical team.
The center will pursue five core programs: planning community mental health promotion projects, managing patients with severe mental illness, managing patients with alcohol addiction, running mental health promotion activities including public outreach, education and suicide prevention, and providing crisis management for suicide prevention.
The district plans to make full use of Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital's infrastructure to deliver life-stage-tailored mental health care, mental health crisis response and community-based suicide prevention programs.
Last year, the Gangseo-gu Mental Health and Welfare Center recorded 6,382 service cases for patients with severe mental illness, up 5.6 percent from the previous year. Case management services and referrals to partner agencies also rose sharply, and the number of residents who used the center reached 93,343 — a 55.3 percent increase from the year before.
"We will do our utmost to provide more professional and systematic mental health services through this agreement," center director Kim said. "We will pay close attention to the mental well-being of each and every resident and strengthen our support system to respond swiftly in crisis situations."
District mayor Jin said the partnership with a specialist medical institution would allow the district to pursue its local mental health promotion programs on a more stable footing. "We will continue to spare no effort in supporting the mental health of our residents," he said.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
