Psychological help for war refugees – salzburg.ORF.at
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War refugees from the Ukraine who have come to Salzburg can also take advantage of psychotherapeutic help in the future. Two associations and Caritas in the federal state offer psychotherapy for refugees in their mother tongue.
More and more war refugees from Ukraine are also arriving in Salzburg. Many of them are severely traumatized – studies estimate that at least 20 percent of refugees are at risk of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
They are fleeing war, bombs, gunshots and suffering: from one moment to the next, hundreds of thousands leave their homes – many of them are women and children. She can hardly process what she has experienced. The association “Hiketides” (German: “protected”) offers psychotherapy for refugees in their mother tongue – so far in Arabic, Bosnian, Chechen and other languages.
“Treat potential war trauma quickly”
The association’s famous chairman, Michael Schreckeis, expects a sharp increase in the number of people fleeing the war in their Ukrainian homeland in the coming months. “In the medium term we will probably have many people in the country who have been traumatized by the war. They then urgently need treatment so that there are no long-term consequences of the trauma, such as depression, alcohol or drug abuse, or even thoughts of suicide. It is important to treat all of this at an early stage in order to limit the psychological consequences,” stresses Schreckeis.
The state of Salzburg is currently funding two psychotherapy projects for refugees in the state’s basic care with a total of 65,000 euros per year. The State Councilor Deputy Governor Heinrich Schellhorn (Greens), who is responsible for social affairs, expects a further increase in the current crisis. In order to give as many people as possible access to psychotherapy in their mother tongue, the Hiketides association also depends on private donations.
Help with the Red Cross Crisis Intervention Service
For people seeking protection arriving from Ukraine, the Red Cross intervention service is available in the arrival center for acute psychological assistance. Persons receiving basic services (and thus also those seeking protection in the Czech Republic) are covered by social insurance. This means they also have access to the psychotherapy services of the ÖGK as insured persons.
In the case of those entitled to asylum with little or no income, the state also supports them by covering the costs of psychotherapy. For this purpose, the state is currently providing the ÖGK with 1.1 million euros annually.
Psychotherapy for war refugees
War refugees from the Ukraine who have come to Salzburg can also take advantage of psychotherapeutic help in the future.