Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, Mayor Park Chan-dae/박찬대) announced that, starting this year, it will newly operate the ‘Beauty Professionals for Life’ (생명사랑미용사) program to detect early signs of suicide risk in citizens’ daily lives and connect them with needed support, expanding its sector-specific life gatekeeper training initiative. Currently, 2,380 life gatekeepers are active in Incheon.
 [코리안투데이] Incheon City Trains Hairdressers and Barbers as ‘Beauty Professionals for Life’ Gatekeepers © 김현수 기자 |
Capturing Warning Signs at Everyday Touchpoints…Life Gatekeepers Expand
The sector-specific life gatekeeper training program trains life gatekeepers among occupations that have frequent everyday contact with citizens, strengthening the community’s suicide prevention safety net.
Hairdressers and Barbers Spot Warning Signs in Conversation and Refer to Professional Agencies
The newly launched ‘Beauty Professionals for Life’ (생명사랑미용사) program for this year leverages the occupational characteristics of hairdressers and barbers, who meet and communicate with citizens on a regular basis. After completing life gatekeeper training, these beauty professionals will serve as community-embedded life gatekeepers—identifying early signs of depression or suicide risk during routine conversations with customers and, where help is needed, guiding and referring them to local professional agencies such as suicide prevention centers or mental health welfare centers.
Started with Life-Loving Taxis in 2017…Now 2,380 Life Gatekeepers
Since launching the ‘Life-Loving Taxi’ (생명사랑택시) program in 2017, Incheon Metropolitan City has continuously expanded participating occupations to include life-loving pharmacies, life-loving academies, life-loving nurses, life-loving hospitals, and life-loving activists, among others, and currently has 2,380 active life gatekeepers.
Yoo Jun-ho (유준호), Director of the city’s Loneliness Care Bureau, said, “Hairdressers and barbers are precious individuals who build ongoing trust relationships with citizens and are best positioned to notice small everyday changes up close.” He added, “We will actively support the sector-specific life gatekeepers, now expanded to include the beauty industry, so they can serve as a reliable community safety net that identifies citizens in need of help early and connects them to professional agencies.”
[ Reporter Kim Hyun-soo ] incheoneast@thekoreantoday.com
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