The counter people stop by to look for work has decided to become a place that looks after crises of the mind. The Jeonnam Metropolitan Mental Health Welfare Center signed an agreement on strengthening cooperation for suicide prevention among middle-aged and older adults with three Employment Welfare Plus Centers in Gwangju, Suncheon and Mokpo on the 7th. The aim is to connect middle-aged and older adults who experience unemployment, economic hardship and severed social ties all at once with counseling, case management and welfare services. It is also a promise not to wait for people in crisis to knock on the door themselves.
The institutions taking part in the agreement decided to identify high-risk groups for suicide at an early stage and connect them to mental health counseling and case management. A method of providing employment, welfare and mental health services bundled together was also included. Education and publicity to broaden a culture of respect for life will be carried out as well. It is a plan that adds care for the mind to the role of Employment Welfare Plus Centers, which had stayed with employment support.
The statistics show why this attempt is needed now. According to figures compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Statistics Korea, there were 14,872 suicide deaths nationwide last year, or 29.1 per 100,000 people. Jeonnam recorded 618 deaths, or 34.5 per 100,000, above the national average.
Looking at the age brackets makes clear which generation collapsed the most. In Jeonnam, 128 people in their 50s, 108 in their 60s, 91 in their 40s and 90 in their 70s lost their lives, in that order. There are also observations that the increase in suicide rates among people in their 40s and 50s stood out nationwide. It is the generation with the narrowest channel for asking for help when one side gives way while they hold up both family and workplace at once.
Reviews at the government level are under way as well. President Lee Jae-myung said at a cabinet meeting on the 6th that the mental health response system as a whole, including management of patients with depression and suicide prevention, should be examined separately. He instructed Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong to directly inspect how local governments and contracted institutions are responding. Minister Jeong replied that depression screening has been incorporated into the national health checkup and is in operation, and that for young people the screening interval has been shortened to two years and follow-up management strengthened.
How the Jeonnam agreement will actually work can be gauged only once operating details emerge. The project period, budget and assigned staff have not been fixed. The criteria for recommending counseling and how consent will be obtained also remain to be sorted out. Song Je-heon, head of the Jeonnam Metropolitan Mental Health Welfare Center, shared his thoughts to mark the signing of the agreement.
Even so, something has clearly changed. Until now, the unemployed wrote resumes at employment counters, and when their minds gave way they had to visit a mental health institution separately. When the two doors open in one space, the odds rise that someone who has not been able to tell anyone will sit down face to face with another person for the first time. Asking a person who came to submit a resume whether they have been sleeping well lately, what Jeonnam is trying to start is that one sentence.
