Seoul City Launches 'Nuguna Chatbot' Service for COVID-19 Depression Counseling...

Local Government's First Mobile Service-Based KakaoTalk Channel
Psychological Counseling Information Platform 'Moduda' Also Launched and Operated

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 19th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it has launched the KakaoTalk chatbot service ‘Nuguna’ to allow citizens struggling mentally due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic to receive non-face-to-face counseling, and also operates the ‘Modooda’ website, a platform that provides accumulated psychological support.

The KakaoTalk channel ‘Nuguna Chatbot’ is an informational guide chatbot service that connects and provides 24-hour helpful content when citizens experiencing psychological difficulties such as COVID-19 depression, anxiety, and stress consult about various mental health challenges.

In the ‘Nuguna Chatbot’ chat window, users can enter short words such as ‘depressed’, ‘can’t sleep’, or ‘corona’ to find related psychological support content and information through interactive communication.

To access, open KakaoTalk chat on a smartphone → search for ‘Nuguna Chatbot’ → add the channel. Psychological support information and searches are also available through menu selections provided upon initial access outside the chat window, and self-diagnosis for depression and anxiety can be performed. Upon initial entry, menus with related words such as depression, corona-related, and suicidal thoughts are displayed, and depending on the selection, psychological support information and content such as card news and YouTube videos are provided.

The city also launched the ‘Modooda’ psychological counseling information platform to allow citizens to easily view various psychological support information online at a glance. It is accessible via Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers by searching ‘modooda.or.kr’ in the portal site address bar → and accessing the ‘Modooda’ platform.

The ‘Modooda’ counseling hub platform gathers information for psychological coping such as depression, suicide, and anxiety, as well as psychological quarantine content for COVID-19, based on content provided by the Seoul Suicide Prevention Center and the Seoul COVID-19 Psychological Support Team. It consists of psychological stability, counseling, support, library, and self-diagnosis sections, providing psychological stability information along with COVID-19 related, problem-specific, and target-specific psychological counseling information, and also allows searching for content from the Seoul COVID-19 Psychological Support Team’s mental quarantine efforts.

In particular, the ‘Nuguna Chatbot’ links to the ‘Modooda’ platform when necessary, enabling users to find more detailed information, thereby strengthening ‘mental quarantine’ support so that citizens can access a wider range of psychological support information.

Park Yumi, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Citizen Health Bureau, said, “As the COVID-19 pandemic prolongs and citizens become physically and mentally exhausted, we hope that everyone can easily access chatbot content to check and utilize their mental health and overcome these difficult times together.” She added, “Seoul will continue to activate non-face-to-face counseling channels to not only strengthen COVID-19 quarantine but also enhance citizens’ psychological quarantine.”