By contacting us via chat in Telegram, Viber, Facebook or on the helpline’s website, men are able to receive support from professional psychologists in the format of texts.
On November 19, 2023, to mark the International Men’s Day, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine, launched a psychological support online chat for men in cooperation with the NGO “Innovative Social Solutions” with the support of the UK Government. The online chat is toll-free, anonymous and available from 8am to midnight.
Consultations take place online in the format of texts. The operators are qualified counselors with years of experience.
The psychological support in the format of online communication is designed to help men stabilize their emotional state, find internal resources to get out of difficult situations and understand problematic aspects of their behavior.
In the first 10 days of the online chat operation, we received more than 1,000 requests for psychological support.
Men are able to request consultations in one of the online chat channels once a day with a duration of up to 90 minutes. Men can reach out with any issues that cause stress, including problems at work or relationships, war distress, and anger management difficulties.
During a full-scale war, the number of stressful situations increases, and, therefore, timely resolution of the problem and overcoming psychological tension is vital.
“Men in Ukraine often live with the idea that they have to solve their problems alone. It is one of the reasons why they do not ask for professional help. According to our survey, 90% of men had no experience seeking professional psychological support. Also, almost every third man finds himself in significant distress, in which he cannot adapt to stressful situations and their consequences,” said Alona Zubchenko, GBV Programme Manager at UNFPA.
In October 2022, UNFPA launched a psychological support helpline for men. Over more than a year of the hotline operation, psychologists have provided 10,000+ consultations. In order to give men more opportunities to contact mental health professionals, the project team created the psychological support online chat for men, in addition to the hotline.
Ulyana Myroshnychenko, Project Coordinator of the psychological support helpline for men, notes: “The helpline's specialists have repeatedly heard from clients on the phone about their need to receive support in written form. With that in mind, we expanded the channels of communication. Now you can contact us and receive help in the online chat of the psychological support helpline for men, available in Viber, Telegram or on the helpline's website”.
The helpline is implemented by UNFPA Ukraine and the NGO “Innovative Social Solutions” with the support of the UK Government as part of the EMBRACE project to strengthen response and prevention of gender-based violence in Ukraine.
