Gyeonggi-do Provides Up to 360,000 KRW Support for Youth Psychiatric Treatment Fees

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will support outpatient psychiatric treatment costs up to 360,000 KRW annually for young adults aged 19 to 34. Additionally, it will operate mental health counseling rooms to support early detection, intensive initial treatment, and management of mental health issues among youth.

The province announced on the 14th that it has prepared the "Youth Mental Health Promotion Project" containing these measures and began implementation this month.

Last year, the province submitted the "Gyeonggi Province Youth Mental Health Promotion Project" to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's integrated mental health promotion project competition, secured related funding from the national government, and was able to start the project for the first time this year.

This year's project consists of the Youth Mind Care (outpatient treatment cost support project) and Youth Mind Link projects.

The Youth Mind Care project targets young adults who have been diagnosed for the first time within the past five years with F20?29 (schizophrenia, schizotypal, and delusional disorders) or F30?39 (mood [affective] disorders) at a psychiatric clinic.

It supports up to 360,000 KRW per person for part of the outpatient psychiatric treatment costs, including consultation fees, medication costs, examination fees (including non-reimbursed), and certification fees.

If eligible, patients or their guardians (family) can submit an application to the mental health welfare center in their city or county of residence to receive retroactive support for treatments incurred from January 1 of this year. There are no separate restrictions such as income criteria or registration with the mental health welfare center.

The Youth Mind Link project operates separate mental health counseling rooms for youth at city and county mental health welfare centers and youth spaces, allowing high-risk young adults to receive counseling without burden.

Meanwhile, according to the 2017 Ministry of Health and Welfare survey on people with disabilities and the 2018 Statistics Korea economic survey, the age group with the highest incidence of mental disorders is between 10 and 30 years old, accounting for 80% of all age groups.

Since 99.7% of youth have no experience with psychiatric treatment and 99.2% have no experience with psychological counseling, there is a need to establish and promote systems for youth psychiatric treatment, psychological counseling, and mental health service utilization.