People-Centered Strategy for Making Mental Health Services More Accessible

Abstract

This study aimed to explore ways to improve accessibility to mental health and mental health services by identifying barriers that hinder access to mental health services. This study found poor alignment between the demand and the supply of mental health services. Secondly, this study found that the Korean general public holds strong negative stigma and discrimination toward mental health services and people with mental illness. Thirdly, we identified two personas which represent the typical models of mental health consumers in Korea. From the study, we summarized differences in needs of consumers to promote accessibility to mental health services by the levels of knowledge, perception, and the severity of mental health problems, and pathways that consumers go though with mental problems. Based on these differences, we suggested different strategies to improve accessibility to mental health services.