Siemens Stiftung and Siemens Caring Hands e.V. support psychosocial emergency aid for Ukrainian children and teenagers

Following a missile strike near Kyiv, a young person suffering a panic attack became the first user to connect with” krisenchat”. Currently, more than 70 Ukrainian and Russian-speaking, trained psychologists and psychotherapists work for “krisenchat” and offer children and young people low-threshold counseling services via WhatsApp, Telegram and SMS.

Thanks to digital access, the service is available to people fleeing the war regardless of their locations and is also used by young people who are still in Ukraine. The demand continues to be at a very high level. Based on the experiences and studies of trauma experts, a significant increase in the need for counseling is still expected and will therefore continue after the end of the war in Ukraine.

With their donation, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. and Siemens Stiftung are contributing to ensuring that this important and effective psychosocial emergency aid will continue to be available to the affected young people in the future. At the initiative of Siemens AG, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. established a relief fund with the donations of mainly Siemens employees to provide charitable support to both local Ukrainian families and refugees seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

Specifically, the funds will be used to stabilize the costs associated with the dynamic growth, finance the psychological management team, offer further training and quality assurance measures, and enable regular measures to secure and expand the volunteer community. In addition, the funds will be used for the technical development of the digital platform and IT support.