Psychological support

Psychological support for victims of the war in Ukraine

If you are in urgent need of psychological help, please, contact the psychologists' Inga tel. +37069934818 (in Lithuanian and Russian) or Irina tel. +37065899392 (in Ukrainian, Russian and English). If the psychologists cannot answer your call, they will definitely call you back as soon as they are available.

You may also leave a message at: . Please, indicate your name and telephone number, so that psychologists could call you. All your information is kept confidential.

Information for lecturers

In response to questions from lecturers, Vilnius University organizes information meetings on how to talk to students about feelings about the war in Ukraine (anxiety, fear, helplessness).

If necessary, please contact the psychologists' Inga by phone at +37069934818 (in Lithuanian and Russian) or Irina at +37065899392 (in Ukrainian, Russian or English). You may also leave a message at .

Emotional support for students

The Counseling and Training Center of the Faculty of Philosophy of Vilnius University prepared recommendations on how to provide emotional support to students from Ukraine.

Step 1: Self-help Plan

Encourage students to take care of themselves and help them to prepare a self-help plan:

• Ask a student what he/she used to do to relax, to feel better in difficult times. For example, meditation, walking, breathing exercises, sports, cooking, music, hobbies, talking to a friend, and so on.
• Help a student to choose three things that will help her/him to feel better at the moment and ask to name them as precisely as possible. For example, if a walk helps a student, ask about a location, at what time of day, for how long, what distance, route, and so on.
• Encourage those choices. Discuss what could help them to follow this plan. For example, suggest making a plan and carrying it in a wallet, hanging it in a visible place, telling a mentor or relatives about it so that they could remember, and so on.

Step 2: Individual help: Psychological Counseling

Offer psychological help to a student if you notice any of the following:

• If the person appears depressed, confused, irritable, speaks with tears in his or her eyes or cries; experiences strong feelings; does not hear information for the first time; is distracted or stagnant; advocates that he or she has a poor sleep; is often anxious; has no concentration; does not cope with daily duties.

Help contact VU community psychologists:

• Inga +37069934818 (in Lithuanian or Russian);
• Irina +37065899392 (in English);
• or email at .

Do not be surprised if only the incoming student refuses psychological help. A student needs to orientate and take care of daily needs in the beginning. You will offer support later when a student is ready to accept it.

Help Step 3: Emotional Self-Support Groups

Emotional mutual support groups are space and time for VU students from Ukraine to share their experiences and feelings and receive and support each other.

• Groups are organized in English and Russian, live and remotely, once a week (frequency of meetings adjusted as needed).
• The duration of group meetings is 1.5 hours.
• Participation in group meetings is free. Confidentiality is guaranteed.

For participation in emotional mutual support groups, contact VU community psychologists Inga and Jokūbas or email at .

It is best to refer to emotional self-help groups after the person has already received individual psychological counseling.

A brochure in Ukrainian on emotional support for students from Ukraine can be found here.