It pursued the following objectives:

• To train 30 Ukrainian psychologists in Ukraine in VBC,
• To establish a monitoring and evaluation system,
• To conduct 2000 online counseling sessions through the Ipso Care platform,
• To devise an exit strategy for sustainable use of VBC.

The project activities included the recruitment and training of 30 candidates and extensive outreach activities: information campaigns, communication with city and regional administrations in Kharkiv, Kyiv and Chernivtsi as well as with local NGOs, etc., presentations at the Kharkiv National Medical University, in facilities of the regional public health and social systems, in academic conferences, on television, in newspapers, social media and other online media.

Of the approximately 200 people who took part in the interviews, 76.5% were women. More than 50% came from smaller towns and rural areas, where mental health services are more difficult to access than in capital cities and regional centres. The offer mainly attracted adults aged 18-50, especially 25-35 year-olds at 40.6%, followed by 36-50 year-olds at 31.3%. Most of them found out about this offer through social media (29.3%) or psychologists (28.4%), the Internet and mass media (24.1%).

The sustainability of the project was ensured because the Ukrainian team founded UPSO – Ukraine Psychosocial Organisation – out of the project. Ipso continues to support UPSO to this day by making its online counseling platform freely accessible for use by UPSO, i.e. for UPSO’s online counseling sessions.