[The Herald Business = Senior Reporter Park Jong-il] Seoul's Gangbuk-gu district is launching a suicide prevention partnership with the Small Business and Market Service's North Seoul Center, aimed at spreading a culture of respect for life among local small business owners.
The district designated the Small Business and Market Service's North Seoul Center as a new participating institution in its Life-Respect Safe Village program, as part of efforts to build a tighter community-based suicide prevention safety net.
The Life-Respect Safe Village program is a community-based suicide prevention initiative in which institutions across healthcare, education, welfare, community and public sectors collaborate to advance five core suicide prevention strategies. Participating institutions — centered on organizations embedded in residents' daily lives — are tasked with identifying at-risk individuals early and connecting them with professional services.
The partnership extends the Life-Respect Safe Village network into the small business support sector for the first time. Gangbuk-gu and the Small Business and Market Service's North Seoul Center will jointly run life-respect and suicide prevention education sessions, mobile QR-based mental health screenings, and awareness campaigns targeting local small business owners and prospective entrepreneurs.
In addition, the two organizations will establish a referral system to quickly connect high-risk individuals with professional institutions such as public health centers and mental health welfare centers. They also plan to create a daily-life-oriented suicide prevention environment through the North Seoul Center, making it easy for small business owners to access mental health information and seek professional help when needed.
With this addition, Gangbuk-gu's Life-Respect Safe Village network has grown to 72 institutions in total. Participating institutions by sector include 17 in healthcare, 15 in education, 9 in welfare, 18 in community organizations and 13 in public institutions.
"Our partnership with the Small Business and Market Service is a meaningful example of extending the suicide prevention safety net into the local economy," Gangbuk-gu District Mayor Jeong Chang-su said. "We will continue working with a wide range of institutions to build a tight safety net centered on residents' daily lives, and do our utmost to ensure a culture of respect for life takes root throughout our community."
If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Ministry of Health and Welfare's helpline at 1393, available 24/7. Please request a translator for English-language services.
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