Access to rehabilitation is a human right enshrined in numerous international legal documents, and specifically the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). State obligations under the CRPD relate to the provision of rehabilitation but extend across several key human rights commitment areas such as
Without a rights-based approach to rehabilitation that includes the most vulnerable and excluded, the development of ethical and human support and treatment for persons with mental health challenges is likely to fail. FGIP interventions to support victims of state repression, refugees, human rights defenders and activists whose right to rehabilitation have been violated are targeted to the individual challenges of each group, and the context of the country they live in.
Among those who are incarcerated, unnecessary physical, mental, and social damage caused by detention itself should be prevented, and a return to society, with a minimal chance of repeating criminal behavior, should be the ultimate objective. Prison Mental Health involves efforts to effectively support prisoners that suffer from a psychological disorder and reduce the number of prisoners that develop psychological difficulties as a result of being imprisoned.
Additionally, in most of the countries where we are active we are increasingly involved in policy development.
A concern with respect for human rights strongly underpins our work in this program area as abuses are, unfortunately, all too common.
In the current rapidly changing context in Eastern and Central European countries, the right for mental health care and rehabilitation is inaccessible for a large number of those in need, such as human rights defenders and activists, former political prisoners or even military representatives due to a lack of privacy and confidentiality.
Others, such as refugees in third countries, may not be able to access mental health care due to their refugee status, or language barrier.
Over the past three years FGIP has developed a wide range of activities in the field of specialized psychological aid to victims of State repression and war in Eastern Europe, and in particular in Ukraine and Belarus, to bridge the gap for those who cannot access regular mental health services.
The programs involved training of mental health professionals, the development of safe on-line consultation programs to victims of State repression (Belarus) and First Line Responders (Ukraine), the provision of short and clear advise to the general population through social media (Belarus, Ukraine), evidence-based self-help information to both individuals in need of support and mental health professionals through websites (samopomo.ch and samopomi.ch), training of mental health professionals in war-related trauma issues (Ukraine). In the course of time, it became evident that these programs play an important role in giving human rights defenders and person affected from war and conflict in the region the most-needed access to mental health care support. We will therefore focus our work on the following:
In order to allow these groups to safely exercise their rights, the FGIP is currently incubating the first online psychological aid platform in Eastern and Central Europe, accessible from everywhere, for Ukrainian and Russian speakers.
Aimed in particular to support refugees, internally displaced persons and human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, both in- and outside their respective national borders, these platforms combine online self-help programs with online therapeutic consultations, clear advise to the general population on social media, awareness raising amongst the affected communities against the widespread stigma of those who receive mental health care to overcome the trauma of war, torture, and ill-treatment as well as training material for mental health professionals on trauma-informed rehabilitation.
The online psychological aid program has been conceived together with our member organizations in Georgia for quick replication in other contexts, countries and languages.
Following the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the need for psychological support for Ukrainian members of the military and civilians who fought at the front line has increased steeply. It is thanks to the FGIP that first steps have now been undertaken to provide these groups with adequate trauma support. Within this context, the FGIP is today continuously training Ukrainian mental health professionals, NGO’s and volunteers in their respective roles to provide psychological and social support to these veterans.
Together with our member organization in Ukraine, to enable training at a large scale to reach those who live in remote areas, we are currently developing an e-learning module that will allow all those in contact with veterans to raise their knowledge to best support veterans independently of their geographical location, and at their own pace.
We reached an agreement with the hospital so that FGIP would cover costs of salaries plus related expenses, while all expenses related to the premises would be covered by the hospital. The hospital also organized Lithuanian language courses, helped with initiating the process of medical registration in Lithuania, and added a part-time Lithuanian psychiatrist to supervise his Ukrainian colleagues and prescribe medication (Ukrainian doctors are not allowed to do so according to EU regulations).
For the center, the former Director’s office was refurbished, which resulted in three rooms, two for consultations and one for administration. All staff members were hired by the Vilnius Mental Health Center. FGIP covers costs of salaries plus related expenses, while all expenses related to the premises are covered by the hospital. The hospital also organized Lithuanian language courses, helped with initiating the process of medical registration in Lithuania, and added a part-time Lithuanian psychiatrist to supervise his Ukrainian colleagues and prescribe medication (Ukrainian doctors are not allowed to do so according to EU regulations).
In March 2023, we hired two more staff members: a Ukrainian psychiatrist from Kramatorsk, who took over from the adult psychiatrist from Mariopol who went on a 4-6 month maternity leave; and a Belarusian psychiatrist from Minsk who is expected to concentrate on a significant number of Belarusian clients (mostly victims of State repression and political refugees).
As of May 2023, the newly hired psychiatrist, Olesya Morozova (originally from Kramatorsk) also consults the two rehabilitation centers for military in Lithuania, which provide rehabilitation to Ukrainian military but do not have a psychological support program.
In order to support national initiatives to sustain and thrive, the FGIP organizes training programs for mental health care professionals on the intersection of human rights and mental health. Where access to rehabilitation is inaccessible due to infrastructure, such as in Sri Lanka, the FGIP supports the establishment of mobile teams that support those affected by mental health challenges in the communities they live in. At least once per year, the FGIP facilitates an exchange of experiences amongst mental health and human rights actors to enable mutual learning and support.
Many of our initiatives from the past are still actively influencing the rehabilitation sector today, independently from FGIP support: Dzerelo, for example, that had been one of the first family organizations that was set up with our support, and has become today the largest NGO in Ukraine in the field of intellectual disability. For over a decade, the FGIP had also run a training program for thousands of young mental health care professionals on ethics and human rights in mental health, many of those are today active defenders of human rights in mental health in influential positions.
