Digital Counseling Services Are Increasingly Needed During a Pandemic

The current pandemic is the biggest health threat in the 21st century. As of this writing, it has been more than 2,7 million cases with a total of 191.176 deaths occurred worldwide. Being completely active at home is the main way to break the chain of this 2019 corona virus disease (Covid-19).

But this virus in fact threatens not only physical health, but also mental health. The onslaught of bad news during the pandemic and the lack of choice of activities can increase the threat to mental health. Digital counseling services are an alternative to getting counseling while implementing social distancing.

your psychology and CALM are two of the many digital counseling service providers. They share stories about the changes the pandemic has brought to their respective services.

Increasing number of users

The current deteriorating health and economic situation is a deadly combination of stressors. This has been estimated by health experts as an indirect impact of Covid-19. No wonder the number of users of digital counseling services has soared.

Psychologymu CEO Nova Ariyanto Jono said that their platform experienced an increase in users of up to 8-10% during this pandemic. According to Jono, their increasingly popular consulting service is consultation about family and romance. Meanwhile, the increase in users for consultation regarding anxiety is said to be moderate.

"There is an increase in users who feel anxious and worried, but the increase is not too significant," said Jono.

It should be noted that despite the increase in subscribers, Psychologymu has not made any profit on their services. Jono emphasized that Psychologymu, who is still in bootstrap status, is determined to improve their products and services first.

The same thing happened to KALM. KALM CMO & Co-Founder Lukas Limanjaya said there was an inevitable shift by users of face-to-face counseling services to digital services. This can be seen from the purchase of their counseling packages which continue to grow.

According to Lukas, their counseling services in the form of chat, video, and text are the users' favorites to get through their daily lives. "We also see many companies seeking counseling services for their employees," said Lukas.

KALM's business model applies a subscription system that is divided per package based on duration. Supported by 160 counselors, KALM sells its cheapest package worth IDR 99.000 for a three-day consultation. While the most expensive package is around Rp. 2 million with a consultation period of 12 weeks. KALM also offers its services to corporations that need mental or emotional health support for their employees.

Anticipated

Luckily they were quick to anticipate the spike above. KALM used this moment to develop its application. Lukas said that they added educational content and held workshops which of course online. In addition, they have also prepared a video counseling system.

Psychologymu takes a different approach. Jono said that his party was more active in adding psychologists to join them. He claims to have succeeded in inviting at least six psychologists to serve at your Psychology, adding to the 100 more psychologists already on the platform. Not only that, Jono intends to collaborate with social organizations to provide mental health support for people affected by the pandemic.

"With the rampant mental health support from the Indonesian Psychological Association - HIMPSI (central and regional HIMPSI), we will continue to onboard and establish cooperation, so that users and the Indonesian people can more easily get mental health assistance by a certified psychologist," added Jono.

The health care sector has become one of the few sectors whose business not only survives but also grows in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak. This makes them one of the types of businesses that are predicted to be even more brilliant after the pandemic ends.

The World Health Organization (WHO) itself has given warning This Covid-19 outbreak will have a major impact on the mental health of many people. A similar potential is also faced by health workers who directly handle the Covid-19 outbreak. Several cases of suicide due to the impact of the epidemic have been recorded in several countries, including in Indonesia Indonesia.