On February 2nd, the first seminar for the involvement of ward staff and community representatives in the model took place.
The entire cycle of seminars includes 3 seminars of 4 hours each for each of the four target groups consisting of 10 people each. During the seminars, attention is paid to identifying persons with psychological difficulties and problems, maintaining contact, motivating and encouraging them to seek help. Seminars are organized in municipal wards, ward representatives, community representatives and other interested persons are invited.
On 12/13/2022, the Ignalina district newspaper “Mūsų Ignalina” published an article presenting the services of a Welfare consultant and a success story illustrating the benefits of consultations.
You can read the text of the article below:
Emotional health is an integral part of our overall well-being. Everyone has faced smaller or bigger challenges at least once in their life: some people can talk about their problems with their loved ones, others find it very difficult to talk and keep everything to themselves. People tend to compare their problems with others, but you should understand that this is inappropriate and no matter what problems others are facing, it does not make your problems any less important. Remember that asking for help is completely normal, so you shouldn’t feel bad about it. Sometimes it can be difficult to start talking about it, but the constant discomfort of an unresolved issue can only make it worse later.
The goal of the project – “Implementation of the model of welfare consultants in the Ignalina district municipality” is to improve the health and social well-being of the residents of the Ignalina district municipality. It is expected that thanks to the project, the health indicators of the residents of the Ignalina district municipality will improve, mental illnesses and emotional disorders will decrease, residents will be more productive and social exclusion will decrease.
Wellfare consultant is a specialist with a qualified education and completed special training in low-intensity emotional counseling of persons experiencing psychological and emotional difficulties, based on cognitive and behavioral therapy. Helping a wellfare consultant at an early stage of the problem is aimed at preventing the onset of depression and thereby contributing to reducing the number of suicides.
The benefits brought by consultations are perfectly illustrated by the case of Lina (name changed):
Lina, a young, married woman, mother of a two-year-old boy, felt unhappy, but she could not even tell herself exactly why. After all, she has a wonderful family and she can’t complain about her financial situation or your physical health. However, she realized that she was no longer satisfied with her life. She felt constant fatigue, cried after a somewhat more stressful day, finally realized that even small arguments with her husband or son flare up and she reacts aggressively. The relationship with her husband became strained, apart from constant arguments, she also received comments for her hot reactions to her son’s pranks. These situations put a lot of pressure on Lina psychologically, she felt constant pangs of conscience. And she herself admitted that she does not control her emotions. The fact that Lina and her husband had been planning a second child for some time also contributed to her poor state of health. Although she hadn’t been planning for long enough to be worried, Lina felt disappointed in herself every month after her failed pregnancy attempt. The desire to get pregnant was often replaced by the fear of possible complications of the future pregnancy, about which Lina did not miss the opportunity to search for information every day and even more grew groundless fear in herself. Lina found out about the services of a Welfare consultant quite by chance – after seeing information about Welfare consultants on Facebook. When she found out that this service is also offered in her city – Ignalina, she decided to try it without delay. Already after the first consultation, Lina said that she got food for thought and realized what mistakes she made with her thoughts and actions, harming herself and her emotional health. One of the most important steps towards realizing the mistakes was sharing my experiences with the Welfare consultant, the opportunity to hear myself as if from the side. After applying the methods of cognitive and behavioral therapy, actively working with herself not only during consultations but also doing “homework”, Lina learned to control her emotions, learned the correct breathing technique to relax when overcome by anger or fear outbreaks, and also began to think more responsibly about her actions and limited yourself from unnecessary information that causes negative emotions. She included time for herself in her schedule, which she spent doing sports or meeting with friends.
This counseling success story perfectly shows why it is worth applying, even when you think you don’t have serious problems, but you just feel lost, preventing the deterioration of your psycho-emotional condition, depression. The services of a welfare consultant are intended for all adult residents of the Ignalina district who have mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, experience various fears, insomnia, have encountered problems and do not know how to help themselves control their emotions.
Registration for consultation: www.geroveignalinoje.lt, or phone: 8 622 28895, 8 619 28887
The project is implemented under the program “Health” with the funds of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism.
Duration of repair works 2 months.