Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and with the participation of First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, an expanded meeting of the Interdepartmental Coordination Council on mental health and psychological assistance to persons affected by russian aggression was held.

As the Head of Government noted, russia’s aggressive terrorist actions lead to catastrophic consequences. It is not only the destruction of industry and infrastructure but also the trauma to the minds of Ukrainians.

“The psychological recovery of each person is the recovery of the whole of Ukraine. Therefore, we should now focus on the psychological health of the nation. The state will initiate, drive and coordinate the creation of a new system of mental health services. Services that will be provided timely, efficiently, effectively, without bureaucracy,” said Denys Shmyhal.

According to the Prime Minister, more than 70% of Ukrainians experience stress or severe anxiety. Almost half believe that they need psychological help.

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska noted that even the strongest sometimes need months to fight their own stereotypes.

“The simple question ‘How are you?’ became the slogan of many of our mental health campaigns and turned out to be deeper than we thought because it is not only about the physical but also about the mental state. It sometimes takes the strongest of us months of fighting not only the enemy, but also our own stereotypes to accept that the answer to this question can be: ‘I am not all right. It is difficult, stressful for me.’ Psychological ‘not okay’ is now the state of most of our compatriots. And it is normal, right and mandatory to talk about it, to look for solutions,” the President’s wife noted.

The First Lady has already initiated the National Program of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. The program will cover all projects and practices, and organize them into a comprehensive and coordinated mechanism. An Operational Roadmap has already been developed to implement the program. This is the result of joint work of the public sector, UN agencies, international and Ukrainian organizations in coordination with the WHO.

“The National Program will help us all to act synchronously. Our partners who are planning to help Ukraine will clearly understand the priorities: where it is worth, or vice versa, not worth investing resources. Thus, the assistance will be more effective,” said Denys Shmyhal.

The Prime Minister stressed that in building a new system the State will rely on the principles of human-centeredness, accessibility and quality of services, focusing on human rights.

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine – Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko, representatives of foreign embassies and international organizations, the Government, the Verkhovna Rada and the Presidential Office.