Psychological counselling service for Ukrainian students at the University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is committed to providing assistance to its Ukrainian students during these hard times of war. Therefore, the University offers psychological counselling based on the principles of crisis intervention to Ukrainian students from 7 April 2022 onwards. 

With this service, we aim to provide support to Ukrainian students in

• better dealing with the current challenges;
• coping with everyday life and studies and
• supporting their family members as best as possible. 

We offer:

• An opportunity to discuss emotional problems due to war with a qualified psychologist and to find solutions to better cope with the situation;
• An opportunity to learn about techniques that help you remain emotionally stable and relieve symptoms during this traumatic phase;
• An opportunity to reduce stress and remain functional supported by psychological counselling;
• Psychological counselling in English and German 

 How does conselling work?

The psychological counselling service provides an opportunity to address important personal issues. This may also include current issues, such as issues related to the war situation. Together with your counsellor, you try to find coping strategies. For example, you could use a counselling session to address if you feel uncertain how to talk to family members who had to flee. If you need information about how to help younger siblings, this can be discussed during psychological counselling. If you are repeatedly overwhelmed by negative emotions, we could focus on this during counselling. If you experience psychological reactions due to traumatic war-related experiences, your counsellor can provide information about these reactions and help you cope with them. This allows you to better understand yourself, the strains you have and how to cope with them.

Clinical psychologists have a wide repertoire of methods that can help deal with emotions such as tension, stress and helplessness. Different exercises/techniques can be used to provide relief from certain issues. For example, if your thoughts revolve around the events of the war and the related challenges, if you have trouble sleeping or if certain thoughts or images occur again and again (intrusive thoughts).

The psychological counselling service for Ukrainian students at the University of Vienna is intended to provide students with emotional stability again. It aims at maintaining the ability to cope with everyday life. If we notice that additional support is needed, we can refer you to other psychological, psychotherapeutic or psychiatric services.

We do not offer:

• Psychotherapy for the further development of your personality, to process traumatic experiences or to treat an existing mental illness;
• Support in solving financial or legal issues;
• Support in finding accommodation for relatives who have arrived;
• Counselling related to study law;
• Psychological counselling in Ukrainian.

 Where can I register?

Please provide us with your e-mail address, at which we can reach you. If you provide us with your telephone number, we are also happy to call you. Please briefly answer our questions when registering. This allows us to quickly assign you to one of our counsellors. We will contact you on the following working day to make an appointment. You can receive psychological counselling in person or online. 

Personal counselling takes place at the Outpatient Unit for Research, Teaching and Practice of the Faculty of Psychology; Wächtergasse 1, 1010 Vienna.

About us

We are a team of clinical psychologists and health psychologists and/or psychotherapists. We are supported by a coordinator who is responsible for the administration of the counselling units. 

Head of UNISUS: Brigitte Lueger-Schuster

Contact: unisus.psy@univie.ac.at

Website: https://unisus-psy.univie.ac.at

Phone: +43 1 4277 47245

• For changing the language use: DE/EN/Ukraine 
• Registration here or Icon