The „Faces of Depression” Foundation is one of the most active non-governmental organizations in the field of mental health in Poland. As first in Poland we have been running six programs of free, remote psychological and psychiatric assistance:
- for children and adolescents and their parents / guardians
- for pregnant women and with postpartum depression
- for adults in psychological crisis
- for cancer patients and their families
- for refugees from Ukraine
- for Ukrainian citizens
These unique initiatives enjoy very good ratings from users, who answer anonymous questionnaires to help us improve. They allow us to reach very much need psychological and psychiatric assistance to people who would not otherwise have any other opportunity to use such help. They may be disabled, come from a small town or village, where there is neither a psychiatrist nor a psychologist, or may not be able to afford care. Among our patients there are also people from large cities who are waiting in a queue for psychotherapy for many months. Our specialists help them to wait for this date and already start the recovery process.
We have been organizing a nationwide social campaign „Faces of depression. I don’t judge. I accept”, whose ambassadors are already over 50 well-known and respected people. In February 2023 we inaugurated the 16th edition of our campaign – in each of them we remind you that the combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy is the most effective way to fight depression. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness of depression, encourage Poles to treat this disease and fight stereotypes. For the needs of the latest edition, we have conducted our own study entitled „The mental state of Polish employees in the pandemic”.
We organize webinars and workshops on many topics around mental health also with our ambassadors both publicly and for companies willing to care for mental wellbeing of their employees.
We issue a free educational magazine „Faces of depression, which we publish from 2020. Each of the editions includes interviews on mental health with well-known people such as Marcin Bosak (actor), Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska (olimpic medallist), Anna Wyszkoni (singer) as well as a number of texts by high-class experts and practitioners in the field of mental health. The latest edition is available on our website: https://twarzedepresji.pl/nr-8-2022/. Newest issue will be devoted to cancer and mental health issues.
With the mental health of Poles in mind, we also organize free webinars on the treatment of depression on our FanPage Faces of depression. I’m not judging. Accept. (facebook.com), where we are followed by over 22,000 people. Webinars are a unique opportunity to pass your question to top-class specialists. Among our guests were: Prof. Piotr Gałecki – National Consultant in the Field of Psychiatry, Dr. Sławomir Murawiec – spokesman of the Polish Psychiatric Association, Katarzyna Wojciechowska – child and adolescent psychiatrist and many others. More about our free webinars on www.twarzedepresji.pl/webinary
We try to involve Polish women and Poles in our educational activities, which is why we run the „Volunteering for Health” program, in which we encourage people interested in promoting mental
health to support our activities by distributing our educational materials (leaflets, posters, magazines) in local schools, hospitals, libraries, etc.
On October 1, 2022, we organized „1. Charity Run with the Faces of Depression” together with the accompanying educational conference inaugurating „15. The campaign „Faces of depression. I’m not judging. I accept. The run was promoted by an exceptional ambassador: Agnieszka Kobuz-Zawojska, bronze medalist of the Tokyo Olympics, who also warmed up before the run. The Foundation also engaged a number of public figures supporting the foundation in recording short videos inviting to the run and promoting physical activity as part of mental health prevention – among them: Marek Plawgo, Marcin Bosak, Żenia Klimakin, Anna Wyszkoni, and Agata Młynarska. Over 300 people took part in Run 1.10, half of them took part in the run in the forest, and the other half ran virtually – we sent packages not only in Poland, but also to Germany, Great Britain and Ireland. More than 20 schools independently organized a run/march with the Faces of Depression in their town.
FACES OF DEPRESSION PROGRAM FOR SCHOOLS is a unique program in Poland! Almost half a thousand (436) primary school teachers benefited from the „Faces of Depression for Schools” program, which was prepared by the „Faces of Depression” Foundation and implemented thanks to the financial support of the program partner: Nationale-Nederlanden. The supported teachers work not only with Polish students on a daily basis, but also teach 3.3 thousand children from Ukraine. The program started in September 2022, with an online workshop where teachers learned how to recognize and what they are: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, adaptation disorders, and we also talked about the psychological consequences of grief. In addition, educators received a psychoeducational brochure in the form of a pdf file. It is a compendium of knowledge written in an accessible language about the most common mental difficulties among students – with particular emphasis on children affected by war trauma. In addition, there are scenarios of ten educational lessons based on psychoeducation and exercises important for children’s mental health. Lessons have been prepared with an age division into grades 1-3, 4-6 and 7-8. The program is planned for the whole year, so that one lesson is carried out once a month. In addition, teachers included in the „Faces of Depression for Schools” program can ask questions and report difficulties in conducting classes with students throughout the school year. At the end of each month, we organize an online meeting with a foundation specialist who answers teachers’ questions.
AWARDS- Our Foundation received an award in the BohaterON competition for lifetime achievement in the promotion of mental health, including the program for Ukrainian citizens. In addition, for the third year in a row, our ambassador has won the prestigious „Stars of Charity” competition. This time, Marcin Bosak received two awards in this competition. The actor donated a prize of PLN 15,000 to our pupils in free remote psychological and psychiatric assistance programs. For the interview with Marcin Bosak, which appeared in the magazine „Faces of Depression”, the president of our foundation received the Crystal Feathers award. The partner of many of our aid programs Nationale-Nederlanden received the title of „Benefactor of the Year” for supporting our foundation. For the „Volunteering for Health” program we received the award of the Institute of Patients’ Rights and Health Education, the National Health Fund and the Ombudsman for Patients’ Rights.
fundacja@twarzedepresji.pl