From May to September 2022, thanks to the financial support provided by the Canadian donor TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, the team of the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project provided psychological support to 739 children and 372 adults with war trauma in 22 cities of Ukraine. In addition, the “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques” methodology was mastered by 401 trainers who took part in the training program within the framework of the Project.
“Our team has conducted therapy sessions for 77 groups of children and 45 groups of adults throughout Ukraine,” – says the Project’s chief psychologist Iryna Sukhova. – In particular, therapy sessions were organized in Kyiv, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Novoyavorivsk, Truskavets, Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Volovets, Vinnytsia, Chornomorsk, Kropyvnytskyi, Cherkasy, Rybakivka, Tereshky, Kryvyi Rih, Starokostiantyniv, Selidove, Dykanka, Kremenchuk, Boyarka, and Korosten. The trainers who went through the program within the project taught children and adults the effective healing techniques and practice self-help skills to overcome the war trauma. Thus, 4 offline trainings were held in Pylypets, Dnipro, Kyiv, and Kamianets-Podilskyi; and 8 more trainings were conducted online. The participants “tested” the methodology on themselves overcoming their own fears and worries. Then during therapy sessions, they all received methodological support and supervision from experienced colleagues”.
The methodology “Children and War. Teaching Recovery Techniques” 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. It is designed to reduce anxiety and prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other complications in the future. And we see its effectiveness and simplicity and ease of using it on our own experience within the project.
The team of the “Helping Hand for Ukraine” project of the “HOPE worldwide Ukraine” Charity Foundation expresses sincere gratitude to our Canadian partners, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation and HOPE worldwide Canada for their financial support, and also for their trust and long-term cooperation for the sake of psychological and emotional wellbeing of Ukrainians.
The results of our team’s work during May-September 2022 within the provided grant are presented in the report: http://hopeww.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hhfu_report_may-sep_2022_hopeww_en.pdf
ABOUT METHODOLOGY
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 support of HOPE worldwide (USA) and HOPE worldwide Canada charitable organizations.
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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