DEC Phase 2b, extending from 1st September 2023 to 28th February 2025[1], is a continuation of Phase 2a of the programme initiated by Plan Poland in response to the escalation of war in Ukraine and the consequent influx of refugees in Poland. Striving to offer children from Ukraine and Poland safe environments where they and their parents can access holistic protection services, Plan has partnered with two organisations for this phase of the project, Child Empowerment Foundation (FDDS) and the Polish Migration Forum (PFM), who are in charge of implementing the activities.
One of the goals of Plan during phase 2b of the project is to gain greater insight into the work of mental health professionals (psychiatrists and psychologists) to better understand the challenges they are facing and to possibly find solutions for them.
The key objectives of this research are two-fold:
- conduct a desk review on the mental health system in Poland and the barriers to mental health services that exist on the institutional level;
- develop data collection tools (KII guidelines) for use with psychotherapists, psychiatrists, caseworkers, helpline workers. The questions of the KIIs are meant to evaluate the mental health challenges that professionals are seeing in their clients from Ukraine, assess the kinds and frequency of support that is provided to MHPSS professionals, and investigate the strategies that these professionals have utilized to adapt their approaches when working with clients from Ukraine.
