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Back in July 2022, Michael Buser, Associate Professor at the University of the West of England in Bristol (UWE Bristol), showed his interest in art therapy sessions held by the specialists of the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation. Michael and his colleagues invited us to share the experience of the psychologists, as British scientists at the university are actively developing the Art of Healing program. This research project examines the impact of art and art therapy on the mental health and recovery of children affected by armed conflicts.
Recently, the University hosted a long-awaited meeting of teams from Ukraine and the UK. Our team included Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder and head of the foundation, Natalia Tserklevych, program director, Natalia Masiak, head of the foundation's psychological examination center, Antonina Sorochynska, team leader of the psychologists' team in Truskavets-Skhidnytsia branch, Elzara Galimova, partnerships manager, and Svitlana Shcherban, sociologist and project monitoring and evaluation manager.
The Voices of Children experts presented methods of psychological support for children affected by the war in Ukraine to the university's scientific community. We shared our many years of experience in effective methods of psychological and psychosocial assistance, art therapy techniques, and psychological groups, and told our British colleagues about Ukrainian children and adolescents. Not only about the problems faced by children of war, but also about their strength, confidence, self-development, and faith in victory. Olena Rozvadovska, the head of the foundation's board, also spoke about this at an open presentation of the foundation at the Arnolfini Museum's cinema.
Colleagues from UWE held art therapy sessions for our team and presented a program to support children affected by the Kashmir conflict. For about 76 years, this conflict has been going on between India and Pakistan over the territory of Kashmir. Hundreds of children were forced to leave their homes. The university's experts spoke about their experience working with refugees and shared their recommendations.
In the town of Bath, Agata Vitale, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at Bath Spa University, presented her methodology to our team. The psychologist presented her work on narrative therapy, and then led an applied workshop on narrative psychotherapy and demonstrated the resource technique "Tree of Life". It has been proven that creative activities are effective in strengthening the mental health of refugees. It establishes a safe distance from trauma, as it can be expressed through images, sounds, body movements, and words. This creative intervention is reinforced in a group setting, which allows people to witness, share and rethink traumatic events. Our experts tested it out for themselves and created their own tree of life.
We not only studied the experience of our colleagues, but also shared our own. We, Ukrainians, already have a lot to tell the world about our experience of resilience, stability and support for children in conditions unprecedented since the Second World War.
Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder and head of the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation
Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder and head of the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation
The trip to the UK was also full of pleasant meetings. Communication with Ukrainian refugees, for whom it is so important to speak out, talk about their life in Bristol, share their problems and experiences, and simply meet their countrymen, is worth a lot. In London, our team had the opportunity to meet and personally thank our partners Fiskens for their support. It was them who once sold a retro car at an auction and donated £70,000 to the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation. Thanks to this amount, a shelter is now being built in the Chernihiv region. We also met with Martin Little of the MBLT Trust, who donated €50,000 to the foundation.
It was a really friendly and warm meeting, and we presented all our partners with the book "War through the Voices of Children".
The team of the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation would like to express our deep gratitude to Michael Buser for an unforgettable trip to the UK, for the excellent organization and support. Thank you, friend, and, as you say, "See you soon!".
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