A girl is in conversation with an action medeor staff member.
Playfully forgetting the war: Max Hoßfeld from action medeor (right) attended the opening of a mental health center for children in Odessa and was immediately invited by the children to join in their games.

action medeor opens new counseling center in Odessa: Psychological support for children in war

With the support of action medeor and the "Stiftung RTL – We help children", a mental health center for children was recently opened in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa.

About 30 to 40 children receive psychological care here several times a week to process their bitter experiences in the war – and simply to be allowed to just be children again.

“Children suffer in war in a special way because they not only lose their safety but also their carefreeness and basic trust,” explains Max Hoßfeld, who accompanied the opening of the counseling center for action medeor. “The war-related stress is especially problematic for the children,” says Hoßfeld. “They hear the alarm, the bombs, and the rockets daily. Many had to leave their homes and find refuge elsewhere, most of them grow up without their father, who is a soldier in the war. Some have even lost a parent in the war. All of this weighs heavily on the children,” Hoßfeld continues. The psychological support of children in war is therefore a very important part of action medeor's humanitarian work in Ukraine.

The effects of war-related stress situations vary greatly depending on how the children's psychological systems react. “Some become hyperactive or aggressive, others become anxious, while others shut themselves off from the rest of the world,” reports psychologist Olga Ladnytska from the Ukrainian aid organization "Your City." She is the head of the new counseling center, where families can now find a contact point for their children. “Here, the children have the opportunity to interact with others free of stress and learn from one another,” Ladnytska reports.

Various therapeutic concepts are used in the process. “With the youngest children, we work a lot with art therapy. The children paint pictures and then talk to the therapists about what moved them while painting,” Ladnytska explains. This way, therapists find access and can gently correct negative developments. “With older children and teenagers, we can already have more concrete therapy sessions,” says Olga Ladnytska. “But working with traumatized children must always be done very gently; often, the sensitive topics can only be addressed gradually,” the psychologist explains. And she also has a goal that she works towards: “When a child can laugh again, communicates with others, and has found ways to better cope with the war reality outside – then we’ve done our job well.”

The mental health center in Odessa is operated by the Ukrainian organization "Your City," with which action medeor works closely in Odessa. The facility and the operation of the counseling center are financed with donations from action medeor, supported by the "Stiftung RTL – We help children."

If you would like to support the work of action medeor, you can do so with a donation. This can be done online at www.medeor.de/spenden – where you can also leave an address for a donation receipt – or classically via IBAN DE78320500000000009993 at Sparkasse Krefeld, donation reference: "Ukraine."

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