On September 26, the press center of Ukrinform held a final press conference on the results of the project “Hugs for everyone who in need” and its scaling into a separate initiative – the first social non-governmental service of psychological help for children, women and veterans – Mental Help 365.

“Hugs for everyone in need” is a program of comprehensive individual diagnosis and psychological assistance for children and adolescents from 0 to 18 years old, the program combines online and offline work formats where possible.

For more than a year and a half of the project, more than 20,000 correctional sessions were held with children and adolescents, more than 1,500 children received psychological help, 1,500 parents and 1,000 correctional specialists participated in educational webinars. Now, on average, from 50 to 119 individual correction sessions are held per day, the work continues throughout Ukraine, the program team includes about 50 specialists in the field of children’s education – child psychologists, neuropsychologists, rehabilitators, speech therapists.” – shares the details of the achievements of the vice president for youth development and inclusive projects of the NGO “Let’s do it green Ukraine” Oleg Rybalka during a press conference in Ukrinform.

The event was attended by representatives of partner and government organizations, in particular, the head of the National Social Service of Ukraine Vasil Lutsyk emphasized the importance of joining efforts for the sustainable and carefree future of Ukrainian children, as most children residing in Ukraine require support for mental health and are considered victims of psychological violence they have experienced.

The number of requests for psychological support for children and support for their parents is constantly increasing due to the complex demographic and social situation caused by the challenges of wartime. Therefore, the team of the “Embrace for Everyone in Need” project presented the successor to the project – a new national initiative “Mental Help 365”, which sets an ambitious and realistic goal: to provide systematic and effective psychological assistance to an additional 10,000 children, primarily children with special educational needs, orphans, children from foster families, and children from military families, by 2024-2025.
We express our gratitude for participation in the press conference, support, and joint efforts to our unwavering partners Partnership for Every Child / Every Child UNICEF Ukraine Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the event details: