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In 2024, sixty Ukrainian families who faced the most challenging experiences of the war took part in a psychological rehabilitation program, Camp+. The program was developed by psychologists at the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation.
Mothers and children stayed together at a hotel in Truskavets, a picturesque town in the western part of Ukraine. Over the course of three weeks, they received group and individual therapy sessions, relaxation practices, lectures, and creative workshops.
This year, three Camp+ sessions were held.
“These weeks were full of emotions, that helped us move forward. We laughed, cried, and learned a lot of important and useful things. But most importantly, we rested. I was able to open up a little. I realized I need to take care of myself,”
“I had time to focus on my emotional well-being. I found my inner strengths, sources of support, calm, friends, a desire to live on, and tools to cope with stress,”
The program has evolved to meet participants’ needs. In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the experts’ focus was on helping people recover from shock and adapt to a new reality; now, the focus is on working with the long-term consequences of stress and coping with the long-term impact of traumatic experiences.
“The loss of the loved ones, captivity, missing family members, injuries or concussions sustained by soldiers, life under occupation, or the destruction of one’s home, which often feels like the destruction of one’s life—that all lead to prolonged trauma, depression, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and severe psychosomatic symptoms in both children and adults,”
The Camp+ program has been reviewed and approved for publication by the Academic Council of the Ukrainian Scientific and Methodical Centre of Applied Psychology and Social Work.
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