“HOPE worldwide Ukraine” has received a grant from the Children’s Resilience Fund to expand its psychological assistance program for children affected by the trauma of war in Ukraine
The “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation has received a grant to expand the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project from the Children’s Resilience Fund: Providing Capacity Building and Funding to Ukrainian Civil Society Organisations in Ukraine, implemented by the Crown Agents Ukraine and Integrity Action program. The project provides psychological support to children affected by war trauma in Ukraine using the methodology “Children and War: Teaching Recovery Techniques”.
The grant is allocated for the period from November 2024 to October 2025. During this time, 130 “Children and War: Teaching Recovery Techniques” therapy courses are planned for 1,560 children. The Charity Foundation sincerely thanks the donors for their trust and partnership.
Volodymyr Yermakov, President of the “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation, shares: “The support we have received from the Children’s Resilience Fund lays a strong foundation for the expansion of the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project. Thanks to the assistance of the Children’s Resilience Fund, we are able to scale our efforts, engage new communities, and provide psychosocial support to even more children affected by the war”.
Iryna Sukhova, the head of the Project’s training team, adds: “Our partnership is not just financial support—it is a commitment to restoring hope and resilience among those who need it most. This assistance ensures that children and families affected by the trauma of war have access to proven methodologies that foster emotional recovery and empower them to rebuild their lives. We are deeply grateful to the donor for their trust and partnership”.
Since the russian federation’s 24 February 2022 full-scale war against Ukraine, the number of people in need of humanitarian aid and protection increased from approximately 3 million people (since 2014) to nearly 18 million, and hostilities and fighting spread from the east across the country. In 2022-2023, millions of Ukrainians endured intense hostilities, which killed and injured thousands of civilians, forced millions from their homes, destroyed jobs and livelihoods, and left many struggling to access food, water, health care, education, a safe place to live and other essential services. Authorities reported an estimated 15 million Ukrainians to need psycho-social support because of the war. WHO also concluded that at least 9.6 million people may have mental health conditions after being exposed to the horrors of fighting and hostilities. From overcoming war trauma to social isolation to daily struggles without power and heating to displacement-related challenges, and more, the consequences of the war are expected to cause mental health problems for at least five years after the war ends.
The “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques” methodology 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 Centre 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 Behavioural Therapy (Lviv, Ukraine). Since 2015, it has been successfully used to teach trainers and to conduct therapy courses in Ukraine within the framework of the “Helping Hand in Ukraine” project, implemented by “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation.
The expertise of the “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation includes working with war trauma and PTSD since 2015; providing therapy for children and adults, including internally displaced persons (2015–2018) and those residing in the “grey” conflict zones (2019–2022); delivering therapy to children, adults, and families of internally displaced persons during the war (2022–2024); training and supervising psychologists, volunteers, and educators under the “Children and War: Teaching Recovery Techniques” program; and collaborating with volunteer and charitable organizations, social services, and educational institutions.
In 2022-2024, “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” conducted 42 training sessions (both offline and online) with the participation of 1,377 new trainers. Additionally, 1,364 “Children and War: Teaching Recovery Techniques” therapy courses were organized across Ukraine, involving 11,435 children and 3,446 adults.
The program is implemented by Crown Agents in Ukraine and Integrity Action.
