I am Jelena Milanović (23) from Belgrade. I am currently in the final year of my clinical psychology studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. I also work as a counselor at the Psychological Counseling Center for students, where I provide free psychological support to young people and manage the Instagram profile @psiholoskapodrskastudentima, focusing on psychoeducation and raising mental health awareness. I have volunteered at the Victimology Society of Serbia (Serbian: Viktimološko društvo Srbije), offering psychological support to individuals who have experienced violence and participating in workshops on gender discrimination in the workplace. Currently, I am involved in a petition to declare May 3rd the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Mass Murders. As part of the Better Together campaign organized by the European Federation of Associations of Psychology Students in 2022, I conducted training for high school students on discrimination. Through Heartefact’s program and my future activist work, I plan to address peer violence through a restorative approach, forming mobile teams to organize interactive workshops, develop activist skills, and provide psychological counseling in high schools in Belgrade. The aim is to develop skills for recognizing and responding to violence and identifying mental health difficulties. Experience has shown that young people often feel they have no one to turn to who will truly listen, leaving them lonely in their struggles. When provided with a safe space, they are ready to critically discuss and question dominant conservative narratives, offering potential for positive changes in the broader community. In the future, this work would result in creating guidelines for changes in educational programs and the work of school services.
