Meeting with the Head of the Kyiv City Council Standing Committee on Healthcare and Social Policy

We are pleased to announce that the working group from our NGO met with Ms. Maryna Poroshenko, who is currently the Head of the Kyiv City Council's Standing Committee on Health and Social Policy, on December 3. We fruitfully discussed the specifics of the service “Assistant to a person with a mental disorder”, the need for which was expressed by the majority of respondents in our study.

The meeting was facilitated by Bohdana Tymoshchuk, deputy head of the Kyiv City Council, deputy head of the Standing Committee. Legal support was provided by Ms. Kateryna Vashchenko, assistant to Vitaliy Nestor, a member of the Kyiv City Council. We feel that we have finally been heard and understood. Ms. Maryna agreed that such a service is needed. Not only within the Kyiv community, but also at the national level.

But we have to start somewhere. Ms. Maryna promised to consult with lawyers and the Ministry of Social Policy on the legal aspect of implementing the “Assistant to a Person with Mental Disorders” service. We, in turn, undertook to describe in more detail the areas of responsibility of the “Assistant to a Person with Mental Disorders” and to think about how to make it more convenient for people with mental disorders to order such a service.