The government will significantly expand the workforce and infrastructure for "peer support" to help people with mental illness recover. The core is to designate 20 training institutions and increase support personnel to 300 by 2030, while also expanding peer-support shelters nationwide to 17.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans this year to designate 20 training institutions to provide discussion- and practice-centered education to enhance the expertise of peer supporters. It will also introduce a program to subsidize labor costs for mental health welfare centers and mental health promotion facilities that employ peer supporters, starting with 88 people this year and gradually expanding to 300 by 2030.
Infrastructure will also be expanded. The current seven peer-support shelters will be expanded mainly outside the greater Seoul area to 17 nationwide by 2030. The aim is to broaden the foundation for continuing recovery outside hospitals.
Jeong Kyung-sil, Deputy Minister for Health and Medical Policy at the ministry, visited the Korea Center for Independent Living of People with Psychiatric Disabilities in Gwanak District, Seoul, on the 20th to inspect operations and held a roundtable with users and stakeholders. The visit was arranged to see what role peer support activities based on personal recovery experiences play in the field and to reflect this in the "Third Basic Plan for Mental Health and Welfare."
The center is a Seoul peer-support institution that runs recovery programs focused on the rights and independence of the people concerned. Participants plan and operate programs themselves, share experiences, and support one another's recovery to promote social participation. Currently, including this facility, a total of three peer-support centers are operating in Seoul.
At the roundtable, key recovery programs such as "Open Dialogue," self-help groups, and the status of training for peer supporters were shared. This was followed by a discussion with people active in the field on policy tasks and institutional support measures to expand peer support.
Participants emphasized that peer support, which shares the recovery process based on the experiences of the people concerned, plays an important role in the community mental health system. However, they agreed that for nationwide expansion, a policy foundation is needed, including systematic training and stable support for activities.
Deputy Minister Jeong said, "Peer support is a practice that shows that the experiences of people who have experienced mental illness can be a force that helps others recover," adding, "A model like this, which shares recovery possibilities from the perspective of the people concerned, is the direction mental health policy should pursue going forward."
Jeong added, "To build a denser, community-based recovery support system, we will prepare the basic plan by reflecting the voices of the people concerned."