Building a safe environment for women and children

SGGP 06/02/2023 06:43

Creating the best conditions for children to develop comprehensively and have a safe and healthy living environment is something the Party, the State and the people always care about and carry out. Contributing to the implementation of the above tasks, many projects participating in the 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Innovation Awards have proposed solutions to protect, care for andeducate children; creating a safe, healthy and friendly living environment for children and women.

Safe haven for survivors of violence

Recently, Ms. HT sought help from the “One-stop shop model to support women and children who are victims of violence” at Hung Vuong Hospital (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City). Ms. HT shared that since his wife discovered his affair, her husband’s personality changed, he often beat his wife and scolded his children. Knowing about the model to support abused women, she came to get advice on how to deal with it.

Ms. HT is one of more than 10 victims who have sought help from the “One-stop shop model to support women and children who have suffered violence” over the past 2 months, after the model began operating at Hung Vuong Hospital. This is a pilot model in Ho Chi Minh City, receiving, screening, treating, consulting and providing on-site services for women and children who have suffered violence and sexual abuse.

The model was jointly established by the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, Hung Vuong Hospital and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Vietnam (Uni Woman).

In cases where students have major psychological problems, experts will meet them directly for consultation.

According to Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City Le Van Thinh, the model is a safe destination, a place to intervene, assist, and provide essential, closed and appropriate service packages for each victim in Ho Chi Minh City. The new point of the model is that instead of victims having to go to many places to seek support as before, now women and children who are victims of violence only need to come to this one-stop model to receive free medical care, psychological and legal advice.

According to lawyer Tran Thi Ngoc Nu, President of the Bar Association (Ho Chi Minh City Association for the Protection of Children’s Rights), in the past, when children were abused or molested, they had to go to many places to seek help, give statements, do assessments, etc. This process was long, tiring for the children, leading to many victims remaining silent and not speaking up. Now, with the one-stop model, victims only need to go to one place to receive quick support, the process is closed and the victim’s identity is kept confidential.

In order to help women and children know about the one-stop model, socio -political organizations and associations carry out propaganda down to the neighborhoods, so that women and children who are abused or assaulted can go to the right place for help. This is a new solution, unprecedented in Vietnam.

Information channel close to students

Due to conflicts with her parents, TN - a student at a secondary school in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City - had the intention of harming herself. Luckily, TN promptly sought out online school counseling and received support from a psychologist. After a period of effort, TN overcame the difficult period, rediscovered her self-worth and family affection.

According to Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 3 Pham Dang Khoa, on the basis of building a happy school that the Department of Education and Training of District 3 is aiming for, along with the reality that many students have difficulties with mental health as well as difficulties in studying and communicating, it requires the Department of Education and Training to have a channel to listen, promptly help students overcome difficulties, and confidently grow up every day.

Faced with practical issues, at the end of 2022, the Department of Education and Training of District 3 built an online counseling room on the website www.quan3.tamlyhocduong.org and the application "District 3 School Psychology" on the Android platform. Here, students can log in and chat with a team of psychological experts. For less important issues, experts support students during the online chat. For more difficult issues, experts will invite students to one of the 5 school counseling rooms for direct consultation.

“The online consulting room has “touched” the needs of students, is suitable for their trends and interests, and has now become an information channel close to each student,” said Mr. Pham Dang Khoa. To date, there have been thousands of visits to this information channel. The channel has received and supported 250 cases, of which 94 cases have been provided with psychological counseling.

The establishment of the online counseling room has contributed to strengthening the relationship between family - school - society in comprehensive student care, maintaining the trust of family and society in the school; mobilizing all resources inside and outside the school to care for students.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/xay-dung-moi-truong-an-toan-cho-phu-nu-va-tre-em-post692103.html