First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in the opening of the Survivor Relief Centre in Kyiv.
These centres are public institutions created on the initiative of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, with the assistance of the government commissioner for gender equality policy and with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and local authorities.
Here, people who have left the zone of active hostilities, temporarily occupied territories, can receive comprehensive social and psychological support. In general, assistance is provided to all who apply to the centres: displaced persons, local residents, etc.
"Absolutely everyone should receive help. And this help should be centralized and uninterrupted, easy of access and humane. It is the kind that the assistance centres provide to the victims," the First Lady said.
Each of the centres has social workers, psychologists, including children's psychologists, and lawyers. The centres also employ case managers to ensure victims have access to comprehensive specialized care, particularly in the case of war-related violence.
To all clients, the centres provide primary psychological counseling to normalize the psycho-emotional state, consultations of social workers on the rights of IDPs and available support for them (humanitarian aid, information on centres for support of internally displaced persons with accommodation, settlement, etc.), consultations of lawyers employed in the free legal aid system. In case of detection of cases of violence, they provide specialized social and psychological counseling.
"Our goal is for all Ukrainians who suffered due to the war to know that they are not left alone with their grief and that there is someone to take care of them," the author of the initiative, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna said.
The centre in Kyiv became the fourth in Ukraine: institutions are already operating in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Lviv (see Contact information).
It is planned to open such centres not only in Ukraine, but also abroad.
"Many of our compatriots, who also experienced suffering, violence, who fled under shelling, they also need help. For the development of the network of centres, important work is done by our partners, such as UNFPA, for which we are grateful to them," Olena Zelenska, with whose support the project is being implemented, said.
As UNFPA Representative in Ukraine Jaime Nadal said, the opening of the Centre will contribute to the expansion of assistance to Ukrainian women and girls in the conditions of war.
UNFPA supports the development of a comprehensive system of assistance to people who have faced violence in Ukraine. Such a system consists of shelters, a call centre, crisis rooms, non-residential counselling centres, as well as mobile teams of social and psychological assistance. Mobile teams work in the most remote and hard-to-reach places, as well as where services have been destroyed. For the needs of these teams, UNFPA will provide 75 vehicles, 15 of which will be equipped according to the needs of people with various types of disabilities.
"Thanks to the new Survivor Relief Centre and new vehicles for mobile teams of social and psychological assistance, we are significantly expanding the support we provide to women and girls affected by the war in Ukraine," he said.
Everyone who needs help or consultation can contact the Centre.
Address: Kyiv, 6A, Raiduzhna Street.
Opening hours: Monday - Friday - from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday - from 9:00 to 15:00.
For additional questions, please call: +38 (066) 170 48 90.
Contact information. Survivor Relief Centres also operate in the following cities:
Zaporizhzhia, Kozak-Palace exhibition center, 70B, Peremohy Street; opening hours: Monday - Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; for additional questions, please call: +38 (050) 463 16 29.
Lviv, Lviv Palace of Arts, 17, Nicholas Copernicus Street; opening hours: Monday - Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; for additional questions, please call: +38 (067) 600 32 69, +38 (050) 777 22 19.
Dnipro, 21, Krutohirny Uzviz, DCCC Contemporary Art Center; opening hours Monday - Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; for additional questions, please call: +38 (099) 245 21 21.