'Itaewon Tragedy' Disaster Psychological Support from the 3rd at 225 Medical Institutions in Seoul

Tailored Disaster Psychological Support for Bereaved Families, Injured, Witnesses, and Responders
Online One-on-One Chat Counseling and Mental Health Coaching for Youth

On the 2nd, during the national mourning period following the large-scale crush disaster in Itaewon, visitors continue to come to the memorial space set up near Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced that starting from the 3rd, special psychological support services will be provided at 225 psychiatric medical institutions across Seoul to help citizens quickly achieve psychological stability and recovery following the Itaewon tragedy. Information about participating medical institutions can be obtained through the websites or phone inquiries of 25 public health centers.

Seoul City has also formed a dedicated team to operate ‘Disaster Psychological Support Counseling Centers’ throughout the city. They immediately opened ‘On-site Disaster Psychological Support Counseling Centers’ at two joint memorial altars (Seoul Plaza and Yongsan-gu Itaewon) and are operating counseling centers within the mental health welfare centers of 25 autonomous districts to ensure that any citizen can receive counseling.

For bereaved families, face-to-face and non-face-to-face psychological support services are provided to help them recover from the grief and wounds caused by the loss of their precious family members. For the injured, active collaboration is promoted to ensure they can receive psychiatric specialist consultations during hospitalization, and support for mental health checkup services is strengthened.

Citizens who directly witnessed the Itaewon incident or indirectly witnessed it through various media can receive information and counseling to prevent trauma via hotlines and mental health-related online platforms. Those identified as high-risk through disaster mental health risk assessments and counseling at local mental health welfare centers will be connected to specialized institutions and continue to receive counseling services.

Additionally, Seoul City provides intensive psychological support services through four Psychological Support Centers and the Metropolitan Mental Health Promotion Center for police officers, firefighters, and rescue participants involved in rescue activities at the incident site. Furthermore, the ‘Mind Relief Bus’ visits the memorial altar’s disaster psychological on-site counseling centers to provide psychological first aid to citizens, and ongoing group psychological support is conducted in youth-dense areas and other groups at high risk of disaster stress.

Enhanced ‘Special Psychological Support Services’ for Youth

Seoul City will also implement ‘special psychological support’ for young adults in their 20s who are at risk of trauma from the incident. Starting from the 7th, the Suicide Prevention Center will operate an online one-on-one chat counseling service, offering psychological crisis counseling (to alleviate anxiety, guilt, sadness, etc.) through a KakaoTalk counseling program available by prior reservation.

To apply, individuals can access the information uploaded on Seoul City’s youth suicide prevention platform ‘Y Run On’ and submit an online application form.

A ‘Mind Health School’ program will be operated until the 15th of next month, offering group cognitive behavioral therapy and stabilization technique programs (5 sessions) for 37 university student counseling centers that accept prior applications. Youth grief psychological recovery programs include youth mental health coaching, a youth consolation dialogue event (on the 24th), and a youth lecture life question counseling center (on the 13th).

Seoul City operates a ‘Itaewon Incident Hotline’ to make counseling easily accessible for citizens. Those who receive psychological support through this hotline can continue to receive support at counseling centers within the 25 mental health welfare centers. For high-risk groups, Seoul City plans to continue professional institution referrals and monitoring.

Seoul City is also strengthening the mental and physical stability of firefighters dispatched to the scene who witnessed the victims’ recovery process and suffered psychological shock. Using 200 million won in special grants received from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, a mental and physical stabilization program will be launched for 500 firefighters primarily involved in 119 emergency activities at the scene on the day of the incident. The Fire and Disaster Headquarters will expand emergency psychological support to help stabilize the mental health of firefighters who participated in the scene activities. For about 300 Seoul City employees directly working at the incident site, counseling staff from the Seoul Healing Center will provide on-site counseling and conduct customized emergency psychological counseling.

Park Yu-mi, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, said, “We will first ensure that citizens who were at the incident site can receive counseling,” adding, “After urgently supporting those who need disaster psychological support, we plan to expand services to all citizens.”