'As part of the three-year long project "Strengthening the resilience of older persons and persons with disabilities during COVID-19 and future crises", the Red Cross of Serbia organised a workshop with focus on psychosocial support of persons with disabilities. The workshop titled “Supporting persons with disabilities” was held online on 27 April 2021 and included participation of regionals partners of the project from Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo*. The materials were facilitated by Dragana Wright, the coordinator of the mental health/psychosocial support part of the project, working for the Red Cross of Serbia, and supported by Natasa Todorovic and Milutin Vracevic, the project coordinators.

The workshop focused on the psychosocial well-being of persons with disabilities, barriers to inclusion and accessing services (everyday, but also during the Covid-19 pandemic), and language around disability. Further, the participants had the opportunity to share their own experiences from practice which enabled joint learning. This is particularly important given that the psychosocial support helplines have just started operating, so sharing knowledge will be highly beneficial throughout the duration of the project. The Red Cross of Serbia will be guided by the feedback received from this and other sessions to shape any future materials that would enable our partners to successfully implement the goals of the overall project.

The project "Strengthening the resilience of the elderly and people with disabilities during COVID-19 and future crises" is implemented with the support of the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency.

(Kosovo* - This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence)