On June 20, the Lviv IT Cluster together with the Lviv City Council and the First Medical Association of Lviv launched an initiative to establish a Mental Health Center. As part of the Center’s work, war veterans, internally displaced people and anyone who needs support in such a difficult time will be able to receive the help of professional psychotherapists, psychiatrists and psychologists.
The institution will operate on the basis of an outpatient clinic at the First Medical Association of Lviv.
At the Center, people will be able to attend individual consultations, join group therapy and receive comprehensive care at various levels. You can schedule an appointment by a reference of a family doctor.
“We have one center where inpatient psychological care is provided. But we do not have an outpatient clinic for a large number of people, so the creation of a Mental Health Center is very important for us. We have allocated an entire floor for the institution, and redecoration work is already underway. A team of psychiatrists and psychotherapists has already been selected, and they have already started working with patients,” said Oleh Samchuk, head of the First Medical Association.
The center will operate on an ongoing basis as part of a major initiative to build the Unbreakable National Rehabilitation Center.
“The cooperation of the Lviv IT Cluster with the city is exemplary and useful. The last time we met was when the Cluster provided the city with Starlink terminals. Today, the association is allocating large sums of money to the Mental Health Center. It will be the core of an important rehabilitation ecosystem which will include assistance in the physical and psychological recovery of all victims of the war,” said Andriy Sadovyi, the Mayor of Lviv.
All necessary expenses related to redecoration works and arrangement of premises will be financed by Lviv IT Cluster, and one of the biggest benefactors is JustAnswer, one of the association’s member companies. The cost of establishing the Center reaches over 5 million UAH.
“In the first days of the full-scale invasion, together with the city authorities we began to organize centers for temporarily displaced people. More than ten thousand people got shelters there. But we understand that more needs to be done. We learned about the Mental Health Center from the city authorities and our Supervisory Board decided to support this decision. In addition, the topic of mental health is also the most relevant for our industry. Because hundreds of thousands of people from the north, south and east of Ukraine have been forced to flee their homes. And they need support,” says Stepan Veselovskyi, CEO of Lviv IT Cluster.
“This is not the first project of the Lviv IT Cluster we have joined. When we learned about the creation of the Mental Health Center, we decided to prioritize this initiative. Unfortunately, the topic of the psychological state of people in our country is quite stigmatized and that’s why it’s wrong. In order for a person to be properly involved in all life processes, to work well, they must feel good,” added Nadiya Semen, JustAnswer’s International Business Development Director at JustAnswer.
The Mental Health Center will begin operations in September 2022.