A national helpline has been launched for Ukrainian people living in Ireland who are experiencing distress or difficulties due the impact of the war.
The 'Call Tanya' helpline will operate five hours a day, three days a week from tomorrow on 0818 452178.
Callers to the helpline will be able to speak in confidence with trained personnel - volunteer psychologists who speak both Ukrainian and Russian.
Supported by the Community Foundation for Ireland and Cork City Council Healthy Ireland, the helpline will initially operate on a pilot basis for one year.
Project co-ordinator Aliona Capatici says the support service "has skilled Ukrainian and Russian speaking volunteers with psychology credentials from Ukraine and they are available to provide a listening service to Ukrainians in Ireland".
The support helpline has been developed by the Together-Razem Centre which already provides a trauma counselling service for eastern Europeans and a weekly Women's Support Group for Ukrainian women in Cork.
CEO Voyteck Bialek says they recognised the need for the service through their conversations with people attending their office in Blackpool.
"Mental health is a very delicate topic for eastern Europeans. People from the big cities, and the west of Ukraine are more comfortable speaking about it, but for people from the eastern section is still taboo".
"This is something new, and we are piloting it for one year first. We got the funding from Community Foundation for Ireland who paid for the telephone equipment and laptops. We have six volunteer psychologists from Ukraine, who are unable to work here yet, but they will be responding to those phone calls".
It is based on the WHO model of Psychological First Aid which involves providing humane, supportive, and practical help to people who are suffering following crisis events.
"It is about listening and supporting, and eventually linking people with other providers such as in housing or health care".
"We will focus on listening. It will be a place people can ring and talk in their own languages. This is crucial", Mr Bialek said.
The pilot service, which has been 4 months in the planning, will operate from Cork.
Together-Razem also hopes to mentor the six volunteers to help their get their credentials recognised in Ireland.
"This is a new era for us too. We already provide supports for Polish and other Eastern Europeans locally, so the 'CALL TANYA' helpline is a welcome new additional service".
