What challenge inspired this recipe?
Many volunteers are facing mental health struggles during their ESC volunteering project. The causes, symptoms, and consequences are very diverse. Many youngsters will not openly speak about it or ask for help when they need it. To lower the barrier for them to seek help, we provide them with an info sheet at the beginning of the volunteering project that summarizes all institution, services, helplines that they can contact (either with the help of the host organization and/or support organization, but also without them getting involved). The info sheet also includes information about the insurance coverage of psychotherapy, phone number of the local crises intervention team, and other psychological/psychiatric emergency numbers.
Ingredients :
- Resources to collect all the info, to check it regularly and keep it up to date
- Resources to explain the information to volunteers at project start and to remind them of it from time to time, so they have the information on where to find support themselves, if they do not want to get the organizations or their mentors involved for any reason
Step by step guide
- Collecting all mental health support resources locally, online, etc.
- Creating an infosheet for volunteers with all relevant information on where to seek help, support, counselling, etc.
- The sheet should include context information, contact details, emergency phone numbers, links to resources online or the websites of local institutions, etc.
- It should provide a first guide through the local support structures and the support volunteers can get from the ESC program (e.g. Henner insurance) and the involved organizations (sending/supporting, lead, and hosting organizations).
- The information should be presented easy read-and understandable. The document needs to be accessible.
- Infosheet should be shared with all participants (no matter if psychological issues are already known/present or not)
