The number of psychologists in Indonesia is still very limited. Even until now, psychologists are not yet able to fulfill the standard minimum health quota made by the WHO. The ratio between population and psychologists are still well under the recommended number, that it 22 to 100,000. Meanwhile, in Indonesia right now, with a population of 241 million people, only around 365 psychologists are available for the public.
Concerned with this phenomenon, a group of UGM students sought to find a solution to help overcome this shortage of psychologists. They have made an online psychological consultation service that can be accessed free of charge. Through the website pijarpsikologi.org, the public are able to consult psychologists of their problems or complaints.
Pijar Psikologi has succeeded in named as the top 16 in the world-wide competition “Global Innovation Through Science and Technology (GIST) with 800 participants from 79 countries from all over the world. They have also succeeded in winning third place in a Startup competition in Surabaya a few months back.
Started by 10 students from the Faculty of Psychology and Faculty of Engineering, Regisda Machdy, Aulia Kusuma Wardani, Nurul Aisya Beryllia, Sadida Fatin Aruni, Anggrelika P Krestaryaningwidhy, Reno Prasasto, Annisa Azzahra Santifera, Clara Shinta Rosari, Maharany Firdhausya and Adyotasalma Danurasti.
The president of Pijar Psikologi, Regisda Machdy, hopes that the pijarpsikologi.org website will be able to connect psychologists with clients with being limited by time or place. Through the website, clients can ask or consult a psychologist on problems they are currently facing.
“The amount of people needing psychology consultation services is quite a lot, but people still feel ashamed and afraid to consult a psychologist. That is also why we developed this online consultation,” he explained on Thursday (14/1) at the UGM campus.
Regis, as he is commonly known, explained that even though there has been several similar forms of consultation, but other services are not followed by other follow up actions such as researches. Meanwhile other online consultations are not free of charge.
The services has been developed since 2014 and formally released at the start of 2015. At the start, only 14 psychologists were available for online consultation. Now, 21 psychologists have volunteered to contribute in providing online consultation. It is also supported by 69 students from several universities in Indonesia which periodically publish articles on psychology. Until now, they have around 200 clients using this service.
“So, besides providing psychological consultations, we also strive to give educate the society on psychology through articles,” explained Regis, an alumni of the Faculty of Psychology UGM.
Regis explained that in the future, they are moving towards accessing this online consultation through smartphones. He hopes that this will widen the access for members of the society.
“We hope that by mid-2006, this will be available to be accessed through smartphones,”.
Original source: https://ugm.ac.id