Two women were crying their hearts out in front of a small consultation table near a minivan labeled Mobil Curhat (Confide Car) parked at a drop-off area in front of the lobby of a mall in Bogor, West Java.

A few people were standing behind them, waiting patiently for their turn to confide their problems to the psychologist on duty.

While they poured out their problems, dozens of others were queuing for body checks for other health issues, ranging from counseling on how to quit smoking and nutritional and cholesterol checks to early cancer detection and HIV/AIDS testing.

Ever since it was launched in 2014, the Mobil Curhat, a program conducted jointly by the Bogor Health Agency and the Bogor Agricultural University, has provided free health services twice a month. The mobile health service can serve from 100 to 200 people every time it operates.

Mobil Curhat coordinator Erni Yuniarti said the agency did this to improve the city’s health counseling services for residents. Bogor currently has 25 community health centers for a population of a little more than 1 million people.

Erni said the agency initially deployed the car as a mobile service for HIV/AIDS testing only, but it did not work because of the stigma attached to the ailment.

“People would refuse to come to us if it was intended only for HIV/AIDS detection. Then Bogor Mayor Bima Arya came up with the idea to provide various health services, including psychological consultations,” she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Besides stress detection, Erni said, nutritional checks and non-contagious disease detection were the most sought-after services. In one day, they can provide stress counseling to up to 15 people.

“There are many people interested in it, but sometimes it takes a long time to talk, while we only have three psychologists on duty during each operation,” Erni said.

Wina, 26, a worker who was seeking stress counseling, said she learned about Mobil Curhat from social media and she found it worthwhile. She said she came with her coworkers who were interested in other health services provided at the car.

“I’m the only one who took the stress counseling because it would be too long if all of us take this session. I can’t speak much about my session just now, but overall it was helpful. The psychologist can address my problem and give me a reasonable explanation,” Wina said.

At the beginning of the stress consultation, the psychologist gives a questionnaire to the visitor. The questions included “Do you find it difficult to control your anger?” and “Have you been feeling sensitive lately?” The answers must be based on the visitor’s condition in the past week.

The psychologist then analyzes the answers while discussing the visitor’s problem. The results are written in a consultation note that is given to the visitor afterwards.

Eka, one of the psychologists in charge, said that stress was part of urban life, the causes ranging from domestic problems to work-related issues, and therefore a session like this was important for many people.

“Stress is natural. The important thing is how to handle it. Many visitors have normal stress levels and look happy, but after a discussion, it turns out that they have problems, such as domestic violence. For cases like this,
we refer them to Bogor’s Integrated Service Center for Empowering Women and Children,“ Eka said.

She said that in the future, the Mobil Curhat psychologist team would conduct follow-up examinations for some visitors with high stress levels starting next year. They also plan to do scientific research about Bogor people’s stress levels and the causes.

Yusuf, 41, who went to the site unintentionally after being approached by the Mobil Curhat crew, said that the idea of including HIV/AIDS testing was “brilliant” since it made people willing to take the test.

“I have tried the HIV/AIDS test just now along with other health tests. Thank God the results were good,” he said.

The agency has recorded 554 people living with HIV/AIDS in Bogor as of 2018, almost double the 264 recorded in the previous year. (ggq)

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