With UNICEF's support, Brave Phone launches multilingual chat service to support children and families in migration

Brave Phone (Hrabri telefon), in collaboration with UNICEF, is expanding the availability of mental health and psychosocial support for children and families in migration. As of March, in addition to Croatian, chat counselling is now available in six additional languages: English, French, Turkish, Ukrainian, Pashto, and Arabic. 

Refugee and migrant children and parents, including unaccompanied and separated children, face numerous challenges upon arrival in a new country and during the integration process, such as fear of uncertainty, adjusting to an unfamiliar environment, language barriers, and discrimination, as well as limited access to education and economic opportunities, which further increases feelings of insecurity and isolation. All of this can significantly affect their mental health and overall psychosocial well-being, causing fear, anxiety, helplessness, changes in behaviour, increased aggression, and various physical reactions. Aware of these challenges and the fact that, despite the efforts of numerous institutions and services, psychosocial support is still not equally accessible to all children and their families, Brave Phone, by expanding its chat counselling service, is making a concrete contribution to the protection and support of children and families in migration, providing them with a space to talk, express feelings, and receive advice in languages they understand. The chat can be accessed at the link https://tinejdzeri.hrabritelefon.hr/ on weekdays from 9 AM to 8 PM. 

The multilingual chat counselling service was developed as part of the “Supporting protection and integration of children and families in migration in Croatia​“, programme jointly implemented by the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) and the UNICEF Office in Croatia and funded by the Swiss Government.