‘Besiktas Will Heal Together’ is the main slogan of a campaign this month by Besiktas municipality to help people in the transition to the new normal. The campaign comprises many events such as meeting with psychologists, music concerts, yoga sessions and sports, which will all be held in local parks.
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
As part of its pandemic response Malmo has instigated measures such as a 24-hour helpline and counselling centres; a campaign directed to young people in the age range of 13 – 21, suffering from honour related violence on Snapchat; a follow up campaign on Facebook directed to girls and women aged 15 – 44; and sharing information at local bus stops about where perpetrators could go if they wanted help with changing their behaviour. Read more here and here
Contact: Margot Olsson
Helsinki offers a free low-threshold service, Mieppi, as a support to people during challenging times. During the crisis the service went online, and nurses and psychologists provided their support via phone or conference calls. Mieppi offers up to five meetings to people from 13 years of age and older. As a low-threshold service, Mieppi believes that early support and aid can help find ways of coping. Talking and being heard achieves the main goal of creating a human connection that will help overcome difficult times. Read more here
Contact: Outi Forsström
Ljubljana is increasing its offer to all age groups; from working with volunteers to keep the elderly company and offering free counselling via telephone; to digital services for the young and
telemedicine by telephone or other telecommunication means introduced for all.
Further measures adopted by the city include providing additional space for the homeless and working with volunteers from Ljubljana’s firefighter association and members of Ljubljana’s mountain rescue association and civil protection on public communication. Read more here
Contact: Polona Novak
Cardiff is supporting young carers who have to look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition or drug or alcohol problem. Young carers can reach out through WhatsApp group chats, and they can access daily updates and activities to engage with their relatives at home. These include live video chats, workshops and educational videos, as well as information about other support services. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Cardiff has developed a website to support children and young people with emotional and mental health and wellbeing issues in this difficult and challenging time. The city also launched ‘The ‘Diff Diaries’, a platform giving youngsters and children the opportunity to document their activity, thoughts and feelings during the global pandemic by submitting video recordings, photo collages or written diary entries. Music education has also gone digital as Cardiff delivers music tuition, one to one lessons and rehearsals opportunities online. Read more here, here and here
Contact: Beverley Watson
A new call-in service offers psychological support for those who need it, which is operated by many different professionals, including doctors and psychologists. Read more here
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
A group of municipal employees with a background in psychology have prepared helpful advice for citizens in areas from gender violence to professional life. Read more here
Contact: Enrique Rodríguez
Madrid is reaching out to those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus pandemic to offer them free counseling via telephone. In this conversation, professionals will establish strategies for those affected to share their pain and will recommend that, through technology, they connect with their family and friends to remember the deceased person and thus alleviate grief in circumstances of isolation and loneliness. After a few days from the first call, subsequent evaluations will be carried out to reinforce the basic strategies to mitigate their pain. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Cardiff Council’s Exercise Referral Team is helping some of the city’s older residents with medical conditions ranging from cardiac conditions to high blood pressure to get the exercise they need. The team has provided more than 1000 clients with tailored home exercise programmes and weekly video routines. Clients report that the videos help them with their mental and emotional health too.
Contact: Beverley Watson
The City Council launches #SiempreContigo, a service that provides recommendations to the older population to carry out controlled physical activity and check their condition during home confinement. The service is carried out by coaches who call the person to track their emotional and physical condition. Read more (in Spanish) here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
A political argument between the City of Vienna and the Austrian national government has eventually come to a good end after nearly four weeks. While all parks owned by the city remained open and accessible after the beginning of the coronacrisis, public parks owned by the national government were closed. After a wave of citizens protest, petitions and appeals of the city government, national government showed readiness to reopen the parks after Easter weekend.
Continue reading “Vienna – Parks open again after Easter”Sports clubs in the city of Stuttgart offer daily sport lessons on video for people at home. The programme includes functional fitness, yoga, aerobics and Zumba. One episode lasts around 25 minutes and is available every day at 5.30 pm on the city’s Facebook channel and on YouTube
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
In order to support people’s mental health, the city launched a free, online programme that allows people to ask direct advice from psychologists on how to handle problems that COVID-19 has brought to their lives. This is offered to people of all ages in Polish, English, Russian, Spanish, Italian, German and French. Read more here
Contact: Anna Aleksandrzak
In Vilnius a team of staff and volunteers speak to hundreds of seniors’ each day. Although this service has been in operation for four years, it is recently being used a lot more.
Read more here
Contact: Jurga Pociūtė-Mikūtienė
While many medical appointments are being cancelled due to the requisition of health workers for the management of the crisis, patients often still need support. In particular, the situation can be hard to manage in terms of mental health. Krakow has therefore decided to open free support through phone consultations.
Read more here
Contact: Marguerite Kuzma
