A multilingual telephone line has been launched to assist community members directly exposed or otherwise impacted by overseas conflict.
Operating from Monday-Friday 9am-4pm, the free, multilingual telephone service is open to all NSW residents and can be accessed by calling 1800 845 198 within NSW.
“This is a critical service the NSW Government is backing to support our Ukrainian community and others affected by conflicts overseas,” said Minister for Multiculturalism & Seniors, Mark Coure MP.
“This service is also a gateway to other specialised and mainstream assistance.”
Research shows that global conflicts and crises impact Australian communities in different ways, and impacted residents may experience stress, anxiety or become fearful. As a humanitarian service, Witness to War will focus on the Afghan and Ukrainian communities, based on the understanding that conflicts can have detrimental impacts locally.
Witness to War is funded by Multicultural NSW and will be delivered by STARTTS up until January 2023.
STARTTS CEO and Clinical Psychologist, Jorge Aroche said that the funding of this program is really timely.
“STARTTS long experience assisting communities affected by humanitarian crises has shown, time and time again, that providing the space to allow people to talk about the impact of situations overseas and channelling them onto appropriate sources of help where required can make a huge difference in terms of how well they are able to cope as individuals, families and communities,” Mr Aroche said.
