The Incheon Metropolitan Government (Mayor Park Chan-dae) held an opening ceremony for its ’24-Hour Loneliness Counseling Call’ on August 4, and starting August 5, any resident will be able to share their feelings of loneliness and receive the help they need. Viewing loneliness not as an individual burden but as a public task, the initiative is a preemptive prevention policy that opens a channel for conversation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
 [코리안투데이] Opening ceremony of Incheon’s 24-Hour Loneliness Counseling Call © 장형임 기자 |
Loneliness is an emotion anyone can experience, but without timely support it can escalate into depression, social isolation, and declining health. That is why Incheon has created a channel where residents can talk freely before their loneliness deepens.
The counseling call operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so residents can ask for help the moment they feel lonely. By calling the Incheon 120 Michuhol Call and pressing 9, or by dialing the main number 1899-2579, residents can reach a loneliness counseling specialist who listens to their story and assesses the degree of loneliness and each person’s individual needs.
The service is not limited to phone calls. Counseling is also available via chat, and an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot provides information related to loneliness, making it easy to access even for residents who find phone conversations burdensome.
The counseling call does not stop at simple consultation. Through natural conversation, it detects crisis situations early and helps residents restore healthy social relationships within their community. If economic hardship is identified during counseling, the person is connected to emergency living support through an eup, myeon, or dong community service center; if depression or anxiety is suspected, professional counseling is provided by a community mental health welfare center. Community institutions such as comprehensive social welfare centers and youth future centers offer daily-life recovery programs, weaving together a seamless path from counseling to service connection.
This linkage structure is significant in that residents who express loneliness are not left behind after a single counseling session but are guided all the way to the support they actually need.
Nam Young-hee, Vice Mayor for Global City Affairs, said, ‘Loneliness is now a social task that goes beyond an individual’s emotional problem and must be shouldered together by the community and the public sector,’ adding, ‘I hope the 24-Hour Loneliness Counseling Call becomes a warm channel of connection that any resident thinks of first whenever they feel alone.’
Going forward, Incheon plans to continuously expand a support system that works closely with the community, centered on the 24-Hour Loneliness Counseling Call, and to identify and assist residents in need ever more thoroughly, realizing ‘a city where loneliness need not be endured alone, an Incheon that cares even for its residents’ hearts.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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