Free online consultations of psychologists and psychiatrists for children in Ukraine

Starting from October 2024, underage residents of Ukraine can receive free online psychological support within the framework of the Estonian-Ukrainian service “Spokiy” (spokiy.ee). By default, the project is also available for adults.

There is an important condition for children under 14 years old: they must attend the consultation accompanied by legal representatives (one of the parents or guardians, brother/sister, grandmother/grandfather, etc.).

In the absence of an adult with a child under 14 years old, the consultation will still take place and the child will be helped, BUT no recommendations for further treatment will be provided without adult permission.

Teenagers over 14 years old can receive help independently.

“From the beginning, ‘Spokiy’ has been a service for providing psychological help to adults.
With the implementation of the project, we realized that the demand for supporting minors is no less: a huge number of children live in the realities of war. And we are talking not only about hostilities as such: forced displacement, changing roles of parents, losses in the family, and other stresses — children need support and help,” notes project coordinator Lesia Kondratiuk.

How to sign up for consultations

1. You need to complete an anonymous questionnaire to assess your psychological state. Answering all questions will take about 15 minutes.

It was developed by the scientific committee of the Estonian clinic DocuMental and is based on the requirements of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The results of the self-assessment questionnaire can be useful simply as information about one’s condition, as well as helping the system better match a doctor.

2. After this step, you can register and join the video consultation at the chosen time
The duration of one consultation is 30–60 minutes.
Video consultations are conducted on the digital diagnostics and treatment platform of the Estonian clinic DocuMental.
To sign up for consultations, users must share personal data: it is securely stored on the platform, and only the selected doctor will have access to it.

“Free psychological consultations under the ‘Spokiy’ project have been provided to Ukrainians since the autumn of 2022. During this time, from a volunteer project with several doctors, the service has grown to a team of 16 doctors (two of whom work exclusively with children). Currently, the doctors in the project are from all over Ukraine. The goal of our work is to develop the possibilities and ‘culture’ of telemedicine in the field of mental health in Ukraine,” — Polina Medvedska, project manager in Estonia.

As part of the service, a person can receive a preliminary assessment of their condition, as well as a treatment plan. The number of consultations is unlimited and depends on the patient’s condition and needs.
Consultations are free of charge for residents of Ukraine, the work of specialists is paid for from the project fund.

“Spokiy” (Calm) is an Estonian-Ukrainian project providing free psychological and psychotherapeutic help online to residents of Ukraine.

It is implemented by the representative office of the Estonian organization Mondo in Ukraine, in partnership with the Estonian clinic DocuMental, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia.