Children are the most vulnerable category of population in the times of war, as they are totally dependent on adults in safety matters, maintenance and addressing basic needs. It all makes them extremely sensitive to horrors of the wartime. The negative consequences that the war can have for their future are hard to imagine. Today, the key point is to monitor their manifestations and provide an adequate assistance so that the children could cope with the experiences they go through and find necessary support.
‘Child’ is a word that is usually associated with tenderness and care. However, not in time of war. Now, the first thing that comes in mind is anxiety, worry, and fear of insecurity and concern about the well-being of children. It is painful to realize that childhood and adolescence of young Ukrainians pass in the period of russian large-scale invasion.
Due to their young age, weaker physical capabilities, and impossibility to protect themselves from danger, children face an increased risks of traumas, injuries, or death during military actions. They become witnesses and even victims of violent events, like various kinds of exploitation and abuse, including recruitment into armed groups, sexual violence, and forced labor.
Traumatic events that accompany any war may cause various negative behavioral manifestations and emotional reactions in children. These reactions include feeling of insecurity, fear of the future, anger, aggression, shame, feeling of guilt, detachment, and isolation from the environment. Children may have problems in studies, difficulties with concentration, memorization of information, and psychosomatic disorders. In the areas of military operations, children often suffer from depression, anxiety, insomnia, mistrust of people. They may be afraid of loud sounds, become associable, and withdraw into themselves.
“Supporting the Mental Health of Children in De-Occupied Territories of Ukraine” Project is implemented by the Boston Children's Hospital's Global Health Program of Harvard University (USA) in parentship with NGO Community Self Help (Ukraine). This project is designed to prepare the specialists for difficult cases of assistance and support of children with risk of having experienced violence and separation from parents during occupation. The project is intended to be implemented on the de-occupied territories of Kyiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions.
Since the child’s psyche is not completely formed, it is especially vulnerable in the conditions of uncertainty, war, or other emergencies. Under such conditions, the child needs a close adult who will give the sense of security and will help to cope with painful events and difficult emotions.
To support children and teenagers, it is highly important to work with their parents and caregivers. In collaborations with our partners, we have developed a course focused at children’s mental health and psychosocial support to children that also includes support to their parents and caregivers. The course covers issues of risks of losing parents during occupation and creates opportunities of comprehensive support for those who is engaged in childcare.
Modular structure of the course provides for step-by-step training and gradual immersion in the subject of psychosocial support for children and their families. It covers key aspects of work with children, in particular, identification of the role of every participant in providing mental health and psychosocial interventions, child’s development, approaches to providing assistance and taking care of themselves. The course addresses the needs of different groups: children, parents, caregivers, and community and offers comprehensive support in compliance with international standards and methods.
Doctor Suzan Song – Director of Global Child and Family Mental Health at Harvard / Boston Children’s Hospital, has extensive experience with international organizations and training programs on issues related to mental health and psychosocial interventions;
Marta Pyvovarenko, Head of the Department of Quality Assurance of Mental Health and Psychosocial Services, MHPSS, at the NGO “Community Self Help,” national coach of mhGAp of the WHO and supervisor, UN expert in implementation of cognitive-procedural therapy in Ukraine;
Kateryna Buchko, PhD, invited researcher of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Stirling (Scotland). Lecturer of the Department of Social Work of the Ukrainian Catholic University (Ukraine), expert in psychosocial support at the NGO “Community Self Help.”
The course was made possible through close international coordination, support from key partners, and long-term training. In this way, we managed to adapt the materials to the needs of Ukraine in the context of war.
It was in 2022 when we, at the NGO Community Self Help, realized that children were the most vulnerable group during the war. Therefore, it was critically important for us to support families arriving to Lviv from the occupied regions. Volunteers provided services for such families, but they lacked skills needed for work with families having many children. There were cases when one mother could have arrived with ten children and more.
Our first joint product with Dr. Suzan Song was webinars for volunteers where we were providing organizational and managerial recommendations and advice to volunteers in their efforts to assist such families. At the same time, we were collecting data on the children who stayed on the occupied territories. Those children found themselves in extremely difficult situations exposed to war-associated risks. Before the start of the project, we collected and analyzed information the children’s needs. We held a set of international meetings and consulted with various NGOs. We also noticed that many organizations operate on the de-occupied territories providing various kinds of aid and support. But the question often asked is how to properly support children of different ages and families with children who are experiencing the consequences of the war.
Having been consulted by Fami Hanna, an expert at WHO headquarters in Geneva, we came to conclusion about necessity of interventions focused at psychosocial support of children, especially from the areas of de-occupied territories where the needs are the greatest. Suzan Song proposed to hold intervention on children’s psychosocial support through teaching the service providers on the de-occupied territories to use tools of psychosocial support to achieve effective support for children.
We started looking for funding and, thanks to good contacts of Harvard University, we found necessary resources. Harvard University became de-facto our reliable partner in this important cause.
We are proud to have been able to implement this important project of mental support to children from de-occupied territories in Ukraine. Until now, we have had no similar programs aimed at children. It is important to note that the World Health Organization (WHO) carries out large-scale interventions on the territory of Ukraine which address a wide range of needs. However, none of the interventions was directly targeted at children. By implementing our program, we hope to fill the gap and provide necessary support specifically to this vulnerable category. We believe that the intervention will have meaningful support and impact on improving the situation of the children and young adults who are getting through hard times. Children and young people are the future of this country. Therefore, it is highly important for us, the adults, to be aware of our responsibility to them to provide a supportive, and as far as possible, safe environment even in the most difficult situations.
The “Supporting the Mental Health of Children in De-Occupied Territories of Ukraine” Project is implemented by the Boston Children's Hospital's Global Health Program of Harvard University (USA) in partnership with the NGO “Community Self Help” (Ukraine). Within the project, trainings and supervision will be held for police officers, employees of the State Emergency Service, employees of civil-military cooperation, mobile groups operating in the de-occupied regions of Ukraine on the basis of the materials of the “Global course of mental health and psychosocial support for children during the war.”
