Post by NGO Girls

The NGO Girls presented its experience at an international congress in Khmelnytskyi Kateryna Zaychenko, assistant to the MHPSS sector coordinator at the NGO Girls, and Arsen Boiko, partnerships and fundraising manager at the NGO Girls” participated in the IV International Congress “Generating Community Mental Health”, held in Khmelnytskyi. The congress focused on community development, social initiatives, and mental health, serving as a powerful platform for sharing European experiences and establishing strategic contacts. Kateryna attended several seminars and workshops, where she also presented the work of the NGO Girls. One of the seminars focused on the development of community-based care and the integration of psychosocial services into communities, using the German city of Stuttgart as a model. Kateryna spoke with representatives and speakers from other organizations and discussed her work in the field of psychosocial support and with small communities. During presentations by Pavel Richan (Czech Republic) and Olga Zyuber, representatives of the NGO learned about the Czech experience with deinstitutionalization of facilities for people with mental disorders and the basic principles of the CARe model. This approach is effective both for people with mental disorders and for supporting individuals experiencing stress or crisis. Together with Kateryna, they discussed the possibility of training psychologists from the NGO Girls in the CARe system and the potential implementation of certain elements of the model into the organization’s work. The congress reaffirmed the strong reputation of the NGO “Girls”. Representatives from various organizations and communities spoke highly of the organization’s work, its reputation, and its practical contributions to the field of psychosocial support and assistance to communities.