By Christoph Lubczyk | Project Leader
With the support of the alliance organization
of Aktion Deutschland Hilft, action medeor, a
mental health center for children was recently
opened in the southern Ukrainian port city of
Odessa. Around 30 to 40 children receive
psychological care here several times a week in
order to be able to come to terms with their
bitter experiences in the war - and to simply
be able to be children.
Ukraine: Children lose their lightheartedness and basic trust
"Children suffer in a special way in war because
they not only lose their security, but also their
light-heartedness and their basic trust," explains
action medeor employee Max. “The war-related stress
is particularly a problem for the children”.
"They hear the alarm, the bombs, the rockets every
day. Many of them had to leave their homes and find
accommodation somewhere else, most of them grow up
without a father because he is a soldier in the war.
And some have also lost a parent in the war.
All of that "puts a strain on the children," said
action medeor employee. The psychological support of
children during war is therefore a very important part
of action medeor's humanitarian work in Ukraine.
Psychological consequences can be very different for children
The consequences of war-related stressful situations are
again very different, depending on how the children's
psychological system reacts. “Some react hyperactive or
aggressive, others become anxious, others close themselves
off and isolate themselves from the rest of the world,”
reports psychologist Olga from the Ukrainian aid organization
“Your City”. She is the head of the new advice center, where
families can now find a contact point for their children.
“With us, the children have the opportunity to interact with
others and learn from each other without stress”.
Different therapeutic concepts are used. “We work a lot with
art therapy with the smallest children. The children then paint
pictures and then talk to the therapists about what moved them
while painting,” says the psychologist. In this way, the
therapists would find access and could carefully correct
negative developments.
Working carefully with traumatized children
“We can have more specific therapy discussions with older children
and young people,” says Olga. "But working with traumatized
children always has to be done very carefully; you can often only
address the sensitive topics gradually," explains the psychologist.
And she also has a goal that she is working towards: "If a child
can laugh again, communicate with others and has found ways to
better cope with the reality of war out there - then we have done
our job well."
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