What is PPA trying to achieve for the Polish community?
Who is the main target of the PPA activities?
Who was involved in setting up the charity and who's running it now?
How is the PPA funded?
How can organisations and individuals support PPA financially?
What has been the impact so far?
What is the charity trying to achieve for the Polish community?
The issue we are tackling is the need to improve the psychological well-being among the Polish community in the UK.
Polish people have come in great numbers to live in the UK - country in many respects (e.g. its diversity) very different to their own. Many of them do not have effective strategies for coping with adaptation into another culture or the wider community, and lack the skills and knowledge to improve their personal life, careers and general well-being.
Some of these issues are directly related to their status as immigrants however other are much wider and relate to the overall psychological well-being which would be relevant regardless of the place they live in. As a group of professionals based in the UK but with Polish origins, we have the skills and experience to enhance people’s psychological well-being, whilst being able to relate to their experience being part of the same community of immigrants.
Who is the main target of the PPA activities?
With our face-to-face service we are targeting the Polish community mostly in London, where most of our members are based. We are also expanding the service to be able to provide support in Southampton, Reading, and other UK cities. However, as we provide on-line help and telephone surgeries/consultations, our clients can be based across the country and still receive help.
Due to large diversity of our projects we tend to get involved with the most disadvantaged Polish people, i.e. the homeless, with mental health problems, with alcohol and drugs addictions etc. However we also offer support and advice for families, couples, individuals coping with immigration related issues as well as day-to-day life. The overarching aim is to use applied psychology as a way of improving well-being of the Polish community, raise awareness of mental health and well-being issues, help with personal and professional development and integrate the community through providing opportunities to meet other Polish people whilst engaging in socially constructive activities.
Who was involved in setting up the charity and who's running it now?
The charity was founded by three psychologists (Agnieszka Major, Katarzyna Stefanicka and Agnieszka Golen) and one sociologist (Iwona Kuszpit) in June 2006 who formed the first management committee. Charity constitution was produced in February 2008 outlining the organisational structure, decision making process, membership, trustee/executive board responsibilities etc. The founding members joined by two more members have subsequently become the first Trustees and charity Officers in early 2007.
The first elections have just taken place in March 2008 and a new Trustee/Executive Board team has been formed to manage the organisation. The Trustees/Board are elected every 12 months by the members of the charity.
Each Trustee/Executive Board Member acts as a Sponsor for one or more charity projects, which are delivered by project teams led by project coordinators. At the current moment we have about 12 project teams/coordinators who deliver a range of internally and externally facing projects. All people involved in running the organisation and its projects are working as volunteers and do not receive remuneration.
How are the charity and its projects funded?
PPA does not receive any regular external funding, our key resources are the skills, knowledge and efforts of the charity members/volunteers.
Lambeth Voluntary Action Council have been very helpful in advising on the charity constitution. Polish Embassy and Consulate have provided the charity with office equipment and continue to support projects by promoting them to both the community and potential partners/sponsors.
In order to access the service, Polish people must have easy access to information about various projects delivered by the PPA. Support from the Polish media in the UK has been instrumental here.
As we do not have premises of our own and as we want to reach users in the widest area possible, we use various premises made available by community and education centres incl. Polish Social and Cultural Centre (Hammersmith), University of East London, Blake Hall College and Klub Orla Bialego (Balham).
How can organisations and individuals support PPA financially?
Donations to support the charity activities can be made directly into the PPA bank account:
Account name: Polish Psychologists’ Club
Sort Code: 515014 (NatWest)
Account number: 67105971
A simple and cost-less way to support is through Easyfundraising is also available for you if you want to support our organisation. Easyfundraising helps raise money to charities through shopping online. Participating stores (see the full list of shops including your favourites ones here) donate from 1% to 8% of the amount of your purchase. See more information and how it works in the Easyfundraising section on our website.
What has been the impact so far?
Through our diverse range of services, we believe our organisation is making a real difference for the Polish community in the UK (primarily London):
- Bringing a community of Polish psychologists together to improve the psychological well-being of the wider community of Polish immigrants. Both groups benefit: Polish psychologists gain experience (particularly useful to those still in training or those without UK-based experience) and the wider community takes advantage of initiatives aimed at improving psychological well-being.
- Stress, worry and depression have all been associated with emigration and feeling isolated, inadequate, far from family and friends. Through offering psychological help, ways to improve own coping skills and opportunities to meet other Polish people who are in a similar situation, we strive to improve people’s confidence, skills and, long-term, their mental health.
- In Poland, psychological help is traditionally associated with severe mental health issues. Through our projects in the UK we try and tackle this with some practical ways of engaging people with applied psychology concepts from a much more holistic and positive perspective. We do this by promoting psychological self-awareness, personal development and general well-being (particularly in the context of living abroad, often away from their family and friends.)
Based on the formal and informal feedback, it has been acknowledged that many Polish people are no longer afraid to talk about accessing our service (there is no stigma attached to it), the numbers accessing the service are growing, and high number of people positively comment on the difference the help they received has made in their personal lives. They are more clear about their goals, how to care about their psychological well-being, how to manage stress, how to have more satisfying relationships and integrate more effectively with the Polish community and beyond.