The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, participated in the working meeting "How are you?: Insights and Lessons Learned", dedicated to the implementation of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program at the community level.
Participants include representatives of line ministries and regional coordination teams, including deputy heads of OVAs, regional coordinators, and community consultants.
«"Six months have passed since our last meeting: not easy for everyone, as well as for the entire country. But I am sure that they were still warmed by the thought that we are doing an important job - supporting the stability of the entire country," said Olena Zelenska.
During this time, "How Are You?" consultants in communities focused on creating local mental health ecosystems, including mental health service guides (routes), which collect information about everyone who provides such services at the community level.
«"Communities have gone through a process of grounding and networking, which included mapping services, creating a registry of providers, surveying service users, promoting the topic of mental health, activating coordination centers for civilian support as an interagency platform, and creating a registry of trainers," emphasized Oksana Zbitneva, head of the Coordination Center for Mental Health of the CMU.
The working meeting was focused specifically on discussing the discoveries, challenges, and solutions identified by the regional "How Are You?" teams.
A common problem in small communities is that people don't seek help because they are concerned about anonymity. To address this, service providers from other communities and hotlines have been added to the local guide.
Thus, in one of the communities, the decision was to open a separate entrance so that anyone could enter the psychologist's office confidentially.
«"It was important for me to hear about each of the challenges, and especially the answers to them. "How are you?" does not set the goal of "making everyone go to a psychologist," the real goal is to create support for everyone: accessible, free, close, convenient, understandable," the first lady concluded.
Reference. The All-Ukrainian mental health program, initiated by Olena Zelenska, is being implemented with expert support from the WHO.
