English | Українська мова
Geneva and Diemen, 11 June 2026 – The Loket Ontheemden Oekraïne PSH (LOOP), the Netherlands’ national hub for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for displaced people from Ukraine, has joined the European peer learning network on Psychological First Aid (PFA) for children convened by The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF).
LOOP becomes the latest organisation in a network built primarily by Ukrainian civil society organisations, many working close to the front lines, alongside professionals and volunteer leaders across host countries in Europe.
Through this partnership, professionals working with displaced children across the Netherlands’ 342 municipalities and roughly 1,500 shelter locations gain access to the same practitioner-tested PFA resources used by colleagues in Ukraine and across Europe.
Learn more about the network: Beyond outputs, a scalable model for documenting child MHPSS outcomes in a crisis: presentation at the 18th European Public Health Conference.
Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the simple, human support that helps a frightened or distressed child feel safe, calm, and cared for in a difficult moment. It is something any trusted adult can learn to offer, not only mental health specialists.
As a first step, LOOP is opening PFA Basics, the network’s introductory online module on supporting children in crisis, to the professionals it serves.
A network rooted in Ukraine, extended across Europe
The programme was developed to extend PFA capacity to the education, social work, and health professionals in daily contact with affected children.
In practice, the network became something larger than its original design.
By September 2025, the network had connected 331 organisations and a mobilised workforce of approximately 10,000 staff and volunteers, sustained by 91 volunteer European PFA Focal Points and 20 formal organisational partnerships.
76% of participants are based within Ukraine, and most participating organisations are small, locally-led NGOs working in conflict-affected areas.
Why LOOP is joining now
Four years into the response, the Netherlands is shifting from short-term emergency shelter toward more durable structures of support, while the underlying need remains acute.
Around 45% of displaced people from Ukraine in the Netherlands report feeling mentally unhealthy, yet only about 7% have been in contact with a psychologist.
Many shelter staff have no background in psychosocial support, one social worker can be responsible for more than one hundred residents, and high staff turnover continually erodes hard-won knowledge.
LOOP’s experience is that the hardest part may be turning awareness into action.
Peer learning is designed for exactly that gap: complementing technical training, practitioners learn from colleagues facing similar challenges. PFA Basics gives professionals an accessible online entry point they can complete.
“We know that peer-to-peer connection is what moves people from knowing about psychosocial support to acting on it,” said Olav de Maat, project lead at LOOP. “By joining this network, we connect professionals across the Netherlands to the lived experience of colleagues who are doing this work under the most difficult conditions imaginable.”
“The professionals supporting children affected by this war should never have to face it alone,” said Charlotte Mbuh, TGLF’s Director of Programmes. “This network was built by practitioners in Ukraine for one another, and what we have learned is that the same peer support that sustains a social worker near the front line is just as vital for a colleague in a shelter in the Netherlands. We are proud to welcome LOOP, and the professionals it serves, into that community.”
Learn more about the Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine
- Beyond outputs, a scalable model for documenting child MHPSS outcomes in a crisis: remarks by Reda Sadki at the 18th European Public Health Conference. https://doi.org/10.59350/wkac3-cs332
- PFA Accelerator: across Europe, practitioners learn from each other to strengthen support to children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.59350/redasadki.21155
- Peer learning for Psychological First Aid: New ways to strengthen support for Ukrainian children. https://doi.org/10.59350/dgpff-n9d63
- Support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Bridging practice and learning through the sharing of experience. https://doi.org/10.59350/zbb4v-hay69
About LOOP
The Loket Ontheemden Oekraïne PSH (LOOP) is the Netherlands’ national MHPSS support hub for displaced people from Ukraine and those involved in their shelter. LOOP is a cooperative of more than ten governmental and non-governmental organisations. Operationally led by ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre and subsidised by the Ministry of Asylum and Migration, LOOP connects demand and supply of psychosocial support and provides tools, guidance, and a helpdesk to professionals across 342 municipalities and around 1,500 shelter locations.
About The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF)
The Geneva Learning Foundation is a Swiss non-profit with the mission to research and develop new ways to learn and lead in the face of critical threats to societies. Starting in 2023, it led the development of the Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The programme’s network now connects more than 330 organizations that represent 10,000 staff and volunteers who support over 1 million children.
Media contacts
- Claude Cardot, Communications Manager, TGLF: pfa@learning.foundation +41 77 231 96 91
- Olav de Maat, Projectleider, LOOP: info@loketoekrainepsh.nl
The development and implementation of this programme in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was funded by the European Union’s EU4Health programme from December 2023 until August 2025. All ongoing activities, content, and their delivery in the Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine from 1 September 2025 are the sole responsibility of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF).