From Evidence to 150,000+ Digital Engagements Across Three Countries
How U-RISE combined implementation research, digital delivery and frontline capacity to scale evidence-based mental-health support for displaced Ukrainians.
U-RISE set out to scale evidence-based psychosocial support for Ukrainians displaced across Europe. But instead of assuming that a validated intervention could simply be distributed more widely, the project combined implementation research, digital delivery, local adaptation and frontline capacity-building to understand what scale actually required across different countries and delivery settings.
150,000+ digital engagements
Evidence-based mental-health resources reached displaced Ukrainian communities at substantial digital scale.
3 European countries
Delivery across Poland, Romania and Slovakia generated real-world learning across different service environments.
22 facilitators trained
Frontline capability supported delivery beyond digital reach and beyond the central project team.
The achievement was not reach alone. U-RISE connected scale with implementation learning—using evidence from local service environments to understand what had to adapt as support moved across countries, channels and communities.
An evidence-based intervention is not automatically a scalable one.
Moving support into a new country or delivery channel changes the conditions around adoption. U-RISE therefore investigated implementation barriers alongside delivering the interventions themselves.
The constraint was bigger than intervention quality.
Service providers reported barriers including stigma, language, shortages of MHPSS professionals, insufficient funding and lack of trust—factors capable of limiting access even when an evidence-based intervention was available.
Access to technology did not guarantee adoption.
Digital implementation encountered a different pattern: generational barriers, limited therapeutic connection, trust concerns and low awareness could prevent available support from becoming support people actually used.
The implementation question changed: not simply “How do we distribute the intervention?” but “What has to change around the intervention for people and service systems to adopt it?”
Scale was investigated, not assumed.
Implementation research captured what local service providers were encountering on the ground and turned those experiences into structured evidence for scale-up.
Service providers mapped the barriers
Initial interviews identified obstacles affecting both in-person and digital psychosocial support across the three implementation countries.
Key informants investigated them further
Follow-up interviews examined why priority barriers occurred, what they affected and what could help overcome them.
Major digital barriers identified
The research mapped a broader set of digital implementation obstacles rather than assuming that online availability would translate into uptake.
Four digital challenges repeatedly stood out: generational barriers, difficulty establishing a therapeutic relationship, lack of trust and lack of awareness.
My role: connecting evidence, implementation and communication
I worked across clinical psychology, implementation research, intervention adaptation, facilitator training and strategic communication — helping connect what the evidence supported with what implementation environments and end users actually required.
Turn frontline experience into implementation intelligence
Contributed to research examining barriers encountered by organisations delivering digital and in-person mental-health support across Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Make evidence-based support usable in context
Adapted intervention content and communication around the language, circumstances and delivery realities of displaced Ukrainian communities.
Move capability closer to delivery
Designed training content and flow and trained 22 facilitators across the three countries, supporting delivery beyond the central project team.
Move implementation learning beyond the project
Connected research findings, implementation experience and project outcomes through strategic communication, research outputs and dissemination to wider European stakeholders.
What the work produced
The result was not one communication campaign or one intervention. U-RISE connected reach, local capability and implementation evidence across a multi-country delivery system.
150,000+ digital engagements
Evidence-based mental-health resources reached displaced Ukrainian communities at a scale that individual face-to-face services could not achieve alone.
22 facilitators across three countries
Training expanded frontline delivery capability across Poland, Romania and Slovakia rather than concentrating implementation knowledge centrally.
Local barriers became actionable evidence
Service-provider experience was systematically investigated, distinguishing the barriers affecting digital delivery from those constraining face-to-face support.
Operational learning moved beyond the project
Implementation findings were translated into peer-reviewed research and wider European discussion, extending the value of the project beyond immediate delivery.
The structural shift:
From “How do we reach more people?” → to “What has to adapt so evidence-based support can work across different contexts at scale?”
What this demonstrates for evidence-led health companies
The context was humanitarian mental health. The underlying implementation problem is much broader: evidence can travel further than the conditions that made an intervention work.
The same problem appears when:
- a validated product enters a new market or population;
- digital reach grows faster than trust, awareness or adoption;
- different markets require different partners, workflows, language or implementation support;
- frontline teams are seeing barriers that central strategy has not yet captured;
- growth depends on building local capability rather than simply increasing communication from headquarters.
The strategic lesson: scale is not replication. Keep what the evidence says should remain stable. Investigate what the market and implementation environment say must change.
What this demonstrates for evidence-led health companies
The context was humanitarian mental health. The underlying implementation problem is much broader: evidence can travel further than the conditions that made an intervention work.
The same problem appears when:
- a validated product enters a new market or population;
- digital reach grows faster than trust, awareness or adoption;
- different markets require different partners, workflows, language or implementation support;
- frontline teams are seeing barriers that central strategy has not yet captured;
- growth depends on building local capability rather than simply increasing communication from headquarters.
The strategic lesson: scale is not replication. Keep what the evidence says should remain stable. Investigate what the market and implementation environment say must change.
Implementation learning became published evidence
U-RISE did not leave implementation knowledge inside the project. Research across the initiative translated frontline experience, implementation barriers and cross-country learning into three peer-reviewed publications.
A framework for scaling psychological interventions
Research translating cross-country implementation experience into a framework for scaling psychological interventions for displaced populations across Europe.
Read the research →What service providers need to scale support
Research across Poland, Slovakia and Romania identifying barriers to digital and in-person MHPSS and translating frontline experience into recommendations for scale-up.
Read the research →What displaced communities need from trauma support
Research examining mental-health needs and barriers across host-country contexts to inform more responsive and effective trauma-support systems.
Read the research →150,000+ digital engagements demonstrated reach. The research explained what reach alone could not: what people and service providers needed, what could obstruct implementation, and what had to change for evidence-based support to scale across different contexts.
