A center for adolescent and youth health opened in Orsha on City Day

To give hope, instill optimism, and help find purpose in life – this is the mission of the "Nadezhda" Center for Adolescent and Youth Health, the grand opening of which took place as part of the celebration of the city's 950th anniversary at Children's Polyclinic No. 1.

A team of specialists – a psychologist, a health educator, a gynecologist, and a pediatrician – has been conducting focused and fruitful work since 2015. It was from this time that the attendance of the psychologist's office increased by 300 people annually.

Now, in addition to medical professionals and the psychologist, their peer volunteers will also provide assistance to children and adolescents based on the "peer teaches peer" principle. These are young men and women who once sought advice from the center's head, psychologist Svetlana Guminskaya. Currently, there are over 20 of them, and the number of those willing to help their peers find answers to complex questions is growing every day.

In recent months, the psychologist and volunteers have managed to rescue more than 5 adolescents from the clutches of the "blue whale" challenge. Currently, the volunteer students are actively working in school and health camps. Moreover, they use trainings and multimedia presentations, which they create themselves, in their activities, rather than lectures and thematic video screenings. They develop and implement ideas together with the psychologist.

People come to Svetlana Guminskaya with various problems – relationships with parents, peers, the opposite sex, consequences of early sexual activity, fears, anxiety, etc.

– They also seek help with career guidance issues, – reported Svetlana Gulinskaya. – Now we will help identify professional inclinations based on a multi-disciplinary approach: from a general practitioner (indications and contraindications for a particular job) to psychological testing.

4 spacious offices with modern equipment, a lounge with soft furniture, and a restroom – receiving medical and psychological assistance and consultation is now doubly more comfortable and accessible.

The Orsha Central Polyclinic, under the leadership of Vladimir Plytkevich, has allocated and renovated several rooms with a separate entrance at the polyclinic. Furniture and equipment were purchased under a UNICEF program and with UNICEF funds. Sponsors actively attracted by the head of the children's polyclinic, Anna Kissis, also helped – OrshaVodokanal, private organizations.

– In the future, the center's operating hours will be extended, – said Alfreda Chergeiko, Deputy Chief Physician for Pediatrics. – And in the second half of the year, a helpline will be available here. For now, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily, except for the psychologist, a valeologist, gynecologist, and pediatrician will be seeing patients. Once a month – a dermatovenerologist. The center's advantage is also that we will have our own separate reporting, distinct from the polyclinic, and confidentiality is guaranteed to all who seek help.

Olga Lebedeva, "Vitebskie Vesti".