Community Psychosocial Workforce Athens (CPW)

The Community Psychosocial Workforce (CPW) consists of refugees and asylum seekers who are trained in various skills and tools, including Psychosocial First Aid (PFA), Problem Management Plus (PM+), and Peer Support Work (PSW). Their aim is to provide basic psychosocial support to other asylum seekers and refugees, in their native languages; Arabic, Farsi, French, Lingala, English and Somali. The Community Psychosocial Workers (CPWs) are supervised by trained mental health professionals (psychologists or social workers) and they operate as a bridge between the refugee communities and the professional mental health service providers.

Who do the CPWs provide services to?

The Community Psychosocial Workforce (CPW) provides services to adult refugees and asylum seekers who live in the urban setting of Attica and who:

• suffer from anxiety and emotional distress related to harsh living conditions, social isolation, disability, or other specific need,
• suffer from mental illness,
• are elderly and in need of psychosocial support,
• belong to a vulnerable group in need of extra support to develop coping skills.

What do the CPWs do?

• Assessment of psychological problems and identification of needs
• Basic psychosocial support
• Introduction and training on coping mechanisms for managing everyday problems
• Social empowerment and assistance with navigating bureaucratic services
• Co-facilitation of sessions between the local municipality and staff of NGOs who work in the refugee field
• Referral and liaison to specialized services, if necessary

Where do the CPWs work?

• CPWs offer their services in the Psychosocial Support Centre for Refugees (PSCR) operated by EPAPSY in collaboration with UNHCR.
• CPWs visit beneficiaries at their house if needed and sometimes hold individual or group sessions at community spaces or spaces of collaborating actors.

The program is implemented in partnership with UNHCR.

Additional Information

Access to service by referral - procedure info

How to be referred for CPW support? 

Please use this service by calling the EPAPSY Psychosocial Support (PSS) helpline for refugees/asylum-seekers in Greece Click ---> Here 

Important – For Social Service Providers to refer a beneficiary. 

Please fill in the referral form and send it via email, with the topic “Request for CPW”, to Mrs Athanasia Vallianou | e-mail: refugeementalhealth@epapsy.gr