Volunteers in the Psychology faculty of the Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta together with the Central Java Indonesian Psychological Association (HIMPSI) agreed to provide free consultation services to residents concerned about the Covid-19 outbreak. This service is limited to issues around anxiety. This activity is carried out online open to national despite the initiation of a psychologist in Central Java. Consultation services are carried out online via WhatsApp (in the form of text messages or telephone) and are open every day from 6:00 to 21:00 WIB. Each consultation is given a time limit of 45 minutes, if deemed insufficient then proceed the next day.
In this service, as many as 53 psychologists throughout Central Java have been deployed, while from UMS volunteers have sent 3 staff, 1 lecturer, and 12 alumni. This activity aims to facilitate people who need psychological service assistance. According to information obtained by the second day of this service, 183 clients from various backgrounds and regions in Indonesia have responded. Most explicitly stated that feeling helped by this counseling reduced anxiety experienced. When interviewed via online, Mr. Susatyo Yuwono as Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at UMS advised: “Thank God this activity is already underway, hopefully UMS can play a bigger role in the future”.