But this is only half the problem. For those who want to receive treatment, there simply aren't enough resources to help them. Clinical psychologists are supposed to limit the number of patients they see each day to avoid burnout. Before the invasion began in earnest, Inna Davydenko was seeing up to four patients every day. Today, Davydenko, a mental health specialist at the Kyiv City Neurorehabilitation Center, believes the number is twice as high. As we speak, she has just finished a video call with soldiers stationed near the front lines, whom she helps deal with stress and anxiety.
Even before the war, the number of people suffering from trauma, depression, and anxiety was increasing significantly, but Ukraine's health system suffered from a lack of investment in mental health care. “In most hospitals, he probably has one psychologist. In good hospitals, he probably has two,” says Davydenko. “Many people need psychological help, and we can't cover everything.” There is simply no way the current system can grow to match the huge surge in demand. But, says Davydenko, “almost every Ukrainian has a smartphone.”
This is exactly what Polovinko and Itzkovych hope to leverage, using Kyiv Digital's platform and data to digitize the city's mental health support and bridge the gap between needs and resources. Their project will focus first on veterans and children who identify as the most vulnerable, and on those who can help others: teachers and parents. The next six months of the project will be in the “discovery phase,” Polovinko said. “We now need to understand the real lives of our veterans, children and parents, their situations, how they survive and what services they access.”
The project will follow people through the process of recovering from trauma, monitoring the treatments they seek and receive, their concerns as they move through the mental health system, and their outcomes. Once teams have a detailed map of services and bottlenecks and data about what is and isn't working, they can match individual needs to treatments. Full rollout is planned for early 2025.
“This does not mean that the entire service chain will become completely digital,” Itzković said. Some patients may be referred to group therapy or one-on-one meetings with a psychologist, while others may be given access to online tools. According to her, her aim is not only to increase efficiency and fill gaps in services, but also to provide comfort by meeting people where they are. “For the majority of our clients, it is more comfortable to have services available online in a variety of ways. Some may not feel comfortable meeting one-on-one with a professional. I prefer the method.”
The project is supported financially and operationally by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a philanthropic organization founded by former New York City mayor and Bloomberg co-founder Michael Bloomberg. James Anderson, the group's head of government innovation, said the project comes at a critical time for Kiev, as people continue to suffer even as the world's attention shifts to other crises. He said there was.