Mental health support for Ukrainian displaced people: U-RISE

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, millions of people have fled the country. The exposure to war-related traumatic experiences puts refugees at high risk of developing mental health problems and imposes major challenges on health care systems of host countries.

U-RISE aims to improve the mental wellbeing of the displaced people of Ukraine by building sustainable capacity for the implementation of scalable, evidence-based mental health interventions adapted to the specific and diverse needs of refugees affected by the war.

Objectives are to:

mobilize and reinforce a European network of Ukrainian and Russian-speaking mental health professionals to exchange practices, experiences and knowledge, and to promote synergy with international agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders
build capacity to enable people, communities and organizations to implement evidence-based, face-to-face psychological interventions in Slovakia, Poland and Romania and m-health interventions across the continent
develop plans for sustainable scale-up and transfer across the EU.

We will disseminate training materials, taking into account the local context and health systems, to provide the necessary local conditions for implementing and up-scaling. We will train trainers and NGOs who will implement scalable WHO stepped care programmes (SH+/PM+) in 3 EU regions, and disseminate promising m-health interventions. Through networking activities, we will develop a roadmap of mental health services to accelerate referral pathways for those in need of more intensive mental health services.

_{Effective start/end date 1/12/22 → 1/12/24}

U-RISE project steps

Flowchart to improve mental health and psychological well-being

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War and conflict turns lives upside down and millions of adults and children witness atrocities, lose loved ones and often lose their homes and even their countries. The psychological and emotional suffering can continue long after the immediate threat to their life has gone. The Podcast tells about the psychological support Ukrainians available at the early stage of full invasion.

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Partnerships

U-RISE builds on successful partnerships complemented by key grassroots organizations. Together, by implementing a stepped care model with personalized components in parallel with widespread capacity building and a sound strategy for sustainability, U-RISE is in a unique position to enforce a sizeable, lasting impact on the mitigation of mental health problems among the displaced people of Ukraine.