Psychological Support department of the Open Polyclinic of Médecins du Monde

Περιγραφή

The Open Polyclinic of Doctors of the World operates with the main goal of providing primary health care as well as social and psychological support to people belonging to vulnerable social groups, such as homeless, destitute, uninsured, immigrants without any administrative documents and any other immigrant with limited or zero access to the National Health System. Within the operation of the Open Polyclinics, the Social service and the department of Psychological support are included. The Psychological Support department consists of volunteer psychologists and aims to provide psychological support and counseling to vulnerable social groups in the context of a targeted and short-term (6 months to 12) intervention. The department is aimed at people who experience particularly difficult economic, social and psychological conditions (unemployment, social isolation, clinical disorders) and are either uninsured or unable to meet their needs from the ever-shrinking community mental health structures. They can also be immigrants or refugees, asylum seekers who have faced adverse and often extreme events (torture, kidnappings, terrorist and racist attacks) and serious adjustment difficulties. Referral and cooperation with a psychiatrist is often necessary. The department also collaborates with a child psychiatrist with the aim of psychiatric assessment and monitoring of children and adolescents with developmental disorders and learning difficulties, while providing the possibility of counseling in the family.