On Aug. 1, a one-year program launched by the Ministry of Health and Welfare began offering three free mental health counseling to people aged 15 and 30.
However, nearly all the booking slots have been filled within three weeks, highlighting strong demand for mental health resources among young people.
Before launching the program, the ministry’s Department of Mental Health cited studies which suggest that more than half of young people who are depressed do not seek help or medical treatment, their main reasons being “costs” and “not knowing where to seek assistance.”
Citing an increase in the suicide rate among young people aged 15 to 19, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said the program was initiated to encourage young people with mental health issues to seek help and find psychological counseling, and to identify and refer high-risk cases for medical treatment.
The ministry had allocated about NT$28.8 million (US$904,239) this year for the program to help 6,000 young people receive three free counseling sessions, adding up to a total of 18,000 counseling sessions.
However, a local Chinese-language newspaper reported on Tuesday that all booking slots for the free youth counseling sessions in Taipei and Taichung have been filled, with only a few slots left in the remaining four special municipalities.
On the same day, the ministry confirmed that slots in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Yilan County had been fully booked, and a total of 4,686 people had used the service (78.1 percent of the expected 6,000 people), with the male to female ratio being about one to three. In addition, about 32 percent of patients were assessed to be high-risk cases and referred for medical treatment.
Hsueh on Tuesday said the demand for mental health support for young people exceeded expectations, and had been predicted using the ratio of healthcare workers who used counseling services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hsueh said the ministry is making an inventory of available resources in each city and county, and would launch a new program next month, but with limitations, while young people who had already booked a session would be able to finish their three sessions.
Department Director Chen Liang-yu (陳亮妤) on Tuesday said that bookings for appointments in some cities and counties have been temporarily suspended to ensure those who had already booked counseling could finish their free program, but that the department has discussed with psychologists’ associations ways to improve the procedures, while additional funding would be discussed.
Chen added that the program is the first large-scale youth counseling program in Taiwan and in Asia, and that the unexpected high demand suggests it is heading in the right direction.
However, some clinicians have said that three sessions would not be enough for those who need long-term counseling, and that sudden discontinuation could result in poor outcomes.
As the ministry is re-evaluating counseling resources, booking procedures and eligibility, with the aim of opening up more slots, it might be worth analyzing the cases of people who have used the service to understand why they sought help, and consider if follow-up care can be made available to avoid poor outcomes from premature termination of counseling.
Moreover, the ministry could invite public discussions on the importance of good mental health, promoting it alongside other health and non-health sectors to help people gain the knowledge and skills needed to protect their own mental wellbeing and support those around them.
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