During the 6 months of the full-scale russian invasion in Ukraine, almost 3,000 internally displaced people, including 1,037 adults, 1,645 children within Ukraine and 225 children abroad, received psychological help within the trauma therapy program. In addition, 722 specialists became trainers in the method of helping people to cope with war trauma. From now on they will teach young and adult Ukrainians the self-help techniques for healing traumatic psychological consequences of war, using the unique methodology “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques”, developed by British and Norwegian scientists.
The methodology “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques” is an effective tool of psychological self-help for people with traumatic consequences of war, natural disasters, and other cataclysms. It works well with both children and adults, as it is a result of the combined years of direct experience of working with child survivors of war and disaster.
The methodology was developed in 1998 by professionals from the Institute of Psychiatry in London, UK, and the Center for Crisis Psychology in Bergen, Norway, and has been used after earthquakes in Iran, India, Chile, and China, the tsunami in South East Asia in 2000, as well as war conflicts in Africa, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine. The manual “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques” has been translated and adapted by experts from the Ukrainian Institute of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Lviv, Ukraine). Since 2015, it has been successfully used to teach trainers and to conduct therapy courses in Ukraine within the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project, implemented by “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation with the support of our American and Canadian partners, charitable organizations HOPE worldwide (USA) and HOPE worldwide Canada.
“Since March 2022, our team has conducted therapy sessions for almost 300 groups of children and adults throughout Ukraine,” – says the Project’s chief psychologist Iryna Sukhova. – In particular, therapy sessions were organized in Kyiv, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Pereyaslav, Nemishaeve, Lviv, Drohobych, Novoyavorivsk, Truskavets, Boryslav, Skhidnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Rivne, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Pylypets, Volovets, Uzhgorod, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lutsk, Mykolaiv, Chornomorsk, Poltava, Kropyvnytskyi, Nikopol, Cherkassy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Bucha, Irpin etc. Furthermore, 220 children who were having rest in camps for the IDPs in Zakarpattia, Prykarpattia and Kamianets-Podilskyi were able to learn effective healing techniques and practice self-help skills to overcome the war trauma. Every day we see the therapy results with our own and receive many grateful feedbacks from parents. The effectiveness of the therapy is impressive – children become less anxious, they sleep better, their nightmares, obsessive thoughts and panic attacks lose intensity or disappear, and they more often start to feel safe”.
This innovative methodology promotes the development of special skills in children and adults for reducing the psychological after-effects of trauma through self-help, relaxation and healing techniques in the face of intense war-related stress. In addition, it is designed to reduce anxiety and prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other complications in the future.
“Our organization has been working in Ukraine since 2015,” – says Volodymyr Yermakov, President of the “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation. – Before the full-scale invasion of russia, our team was working mainly with internally displaced people from the east of Ukraine. After February 24, 2022, the geography of our activities expanded significantly. We are very grateful to our donors and partners who support the people of Ukraine in such a difficult time. We are constantly developing our common projects for the benefit of Ukrainians. The work of our team is very important now and will be relevant for a long time to come. The experience of war is a very traumatic experience, and Ukraine needs healthy children and healthy parents to rebuild. That is why it is difficult to overestimate the importance of trauma healing techniques. The goal of our activity is to improve the socio-emotional and psychological well-being of Ukrainian children and adults with war trauma, reduce the level of anxiety, and increase their opportunities for a fulfilling life in the future.”
The team of the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project of the “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation intends to continue its work as long as there are people who need psychological help. With extensive experience in dealing with war trauma, the Project team is ready to share experience and expertise, in particular, to contribute to the creation of the National Program of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.
The results of our team’s work over the past 6 months are presented in the report at the link: https://hopeww.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/hhfu_report_24.08.2022_en.pdf
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REFERENCE INFORMATION
International Charity Project “Helping Hand for Ukraine” exists since 2015. The Project aims to improve the socio-emotional and psychological state and wellbeing of children with war trauma and their families who witnessed and suffered from the war against Ukraine. The Project trains the trainers to work with the “Children and War: Teaching Recovery Techniques” methodology; provides psychological assistance to children and their parents with war trauma, teaching them skills of psychological self-regulation and self-assistance and techniques of relaxation; fosters cooperation with state social services in order to ensure immediate attention from professionals to cases of mild and severe mental problems as well as constant aftercare and social support. More information about the Project is provided on the website of “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation.
Contact person for media: Olga Batiuk, mob. +38 050 359 7266 (Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp), olga.batiuk@gmail.com
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