Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital Launches AI-Based Suicide Prevention Platform for Children and Adolescents

Establishing a School and Mental Health Agency Linkage System
Developing an Early Detection and Intervention Model

Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital is embarking on the development of a preventive platform that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to detect suicide risks among children and adolescents at an early stage and connect them to tailored interventions.

Jaehyun Yoo, Professor of Psychiatry, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. Seoul St. Mary's Hospital

Jaehyun Yoo, Professor of Psychiatry at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, announced on June 12 that he will participate in the research project titled “Development of a Community Network-Based AI-Driven Personalized Student Suicide Prevention Platform,” which has been selected for the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “Suicide-Related Social Problem-Solving Technology Development Project.”

As the principal investigator for a collaborating institution, Professor Yoo will oversee a subproject focused on “Development of a suicide prevention program reflecting developmental characteristics of children and adolescents, and establishment of an AI-based personalized risk assessment and intervention system.” The research will run until December 2029, with the overall project led by Chanmo Yang, Professor of Psychiatry at Wonkwang University Hospital.

The core of this study is to analyze various psychological data such as depression, anxiety, trauma, family relationships, and suicide risk among students using AI, thereby creating individualized risk and protective factor profiles and providing corresponding preventive education content. The plan also includes establishing a system that links students showing signs of emotional crisis with local community safety nets such as schools, Wee Centers, mental health welfare centers, suicide prevention centers, and hospitals.

The research team especially plans to develop a developmentally friendly suicide prevention program for elementary school students, focusing on emotional awareness, stress coping strategies, and methods for seeking help, and to expand this initiative via online content and an AI platform.

Professor Jaehyun Yoo stated, “AI is not a technology meant to replace counselors or medical professionals, but rather a supplementary tool to detect students’ warning signs more quickly and connect them to appropriate support. We aim to establish a student suicide prevention model based on early detection, personalized intervention, and community linkage that can be applied in school settings.”

This research is being promoted amid the worsening of mental health issues among children and adolescents. According to National Health Insurance Service statistics, 53,070 children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 received treatment for depression in 2023, representing a 75.8% increase compared to 2018.

In 2023, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital was selected as a Life-Love Crisis Response Center designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and has been operating a post-management project for suicide attempters based in the emergency room. Professor Yoo serves as head of the Life-Love Crisis Response Center and is responsible for managing high-risk suicide cases and implementing community linkage programs.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.