Starting from the middle of last October UPO “Gay Alliance Ukraine” (GAU) has been implementing the project “Hotline for LGBT people in Ukraine” under the support of the Embassy of Canada in Ukraine.
During this time of work employees of the hotline has provided 534 telephone counselling sessions. At this point it is very important to mention that not every conversation at the hotline is considered as a counseling session. Because there were more than a thousand calls! Counseling – it is only the call, which contains the initial request from the caller that is being successfully worked through together with the consultant.
The average duration of the call for informational consultation is around 5-10 minutes. Most of the callers are interested in health services, recreational places and work of the Ukrainian LGBT organizations.
Both crisis and psychological counseling require much more time – from 20 to 40 minutes. In some cases the conversation could last up to one hour, or even an hour and a half when a person is in a very serious condition. It is quite difficult to highlight the main topics of such counselling sessions, since in these situations each call is unique. However these requests can also be calcified according to the following groups: relationships with partners, relatives, children, homophobia, and problems with self-identity and self-acceptance.
Unfortunately, experience of all the helplines shows that not every call can be classified as counselling one. Sometimes people call by mistake, but more often use the hotline for other purposes. For example, instead of calling the former partner after a heavy alcoholic drink offerings. In such cases consultants have the right to stop conversation. People in a state of severe alcohol or drug intoxication just can not be offered any psychological counselling.
Another group of callers – people who try to use the hotline for the free phone sex. In this case it will not be possible to make any savings – the objectives of the helpline do not cover such requests.
With any other questions, please contact us daily from 12:00 to 2:00. Calls on the territory of Ukraine are free of charge. All calls are strictly anonymous and confidential. Please call us by Tel.: 8 800 50 50 99.
Автор: Gay Alliance Ukraine
