In the theoretical part of my master's thesis, I studied in detail counselling in school, preventive work related to adolescents, psychosocial assistance offered to children, adolescents and their families, their life in general, rapid assessment of needs and services in this field, as well as institutions or centres for children and adolescents. In order to conduct a qualitative research, I carried out seven interviews. I used a semi-standardised interview, which is presented in the annex of the thesis. The research helped me acquire data on the age of children and adolescents, how often they asked for different types of assistance, what forms of distress they felt during the epidemic, how different organisations adapted to the new situation, whether they cooperated with another organisation, how many organisations and preventive programs there are in Slovenia, what their main obstacles are in providing assistance, and how the work in this field will be performed in the future, with regard to the consequences and advancements brought by COVID-19. It was determined that more individuals asked for assistance than usual and that the most frequent forms of distress were related to mental health and studying, as well as dietary, financial, and living problems. Organisations mostly adapted to the situation by providing long-distance assistance; some organisations cooperated with others, while others did not. In some parts of Slovenia, there are more organisations than elsewhere. The main obstacles in providing assistance are the lack of funding and different materials, and long-distance communication. In the future, several contents as well as some activities will be accessible long distance. In the conclusion, I provide some suggestions on how organisations could operate and cooperate in the future, and I also write about the need for a volunteering network, a bigger emphasis on prevention, and more organisations across the country.
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