Mental Health Recovery: How Psychological Support Helps Find Peace During Wartime
27/06/2025
In collaboration with the international organization HIAS, mobile teams from the Charitable Foundation “Angels of Salvation” provide psychological support to residents of communities in the Kharkiv region. These sessions help people learn to manage their emotions, reduce stress levels, and maintain mental and emotional well-being amid the challenges of war.
One of the participants in these training sessions is 77-year-old Lidiia, a resident of the village of Peresichne in the Kharkiv region. She attends the group meetings twice a week and calls them “a breath of fresh air.”
Lidiia Pavlivna graduated from Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and worked at a research institute in Kharkiv specializing in chemistry. After getting married, she moved to Peresichne, where she spent over 30 years working as a technician at an agricultural company. She retired in 2005 but was later invited back as an occupational safety engineer. Her work ended with the start of the full-scale invasion.
On the first day of the war, Lidiia was with her granddaughter at a hospital in Kharkiv. She remembers the sound of sirens, ambulances, and fire trucks—panic spread throughout the city. That same day, her daughter-in-law helped them evacuate to Peresichne, where she still lives today. The village avoided major destruction, although explosions hit just a few hundred meters from her home.
Since early 2023, Lidiia has been attending the support sessions run by the “Angels of Salvation” mobile teams. These meetings have helped her not only regain emotional balance, but also reconnect with old friends — including classmates she hadn’t seen in decades.
"You come in all closed up, like a hedgehog curled into a ball," she says, "but once you're there, you start to calm down."
According to Lidiia, the sessions help ease her mind and bring mental relief.
She also shared that she has returned to writing poetry — a hobby she loved back in her school days. At one of the psychological support group meetings, she even read one of her poems aloud:
The flowers laugh in white and yellow,
They don’t care if I am here.
So gentle, sweet, and soft, so mellow —.
What gifts can they all bring to me?
If I pick some to make my house pretty
For one day, maybe two or three,
But if I don’t. Who knows? No one’s that witty,
Who else will share this glee?
No way, I should just let them grow
To bring me joy and others so.
All around, the silence stays,
While nightingales sing soft refrains.
The “Angels of Salvation” mobile teams, in partnership with HIAS, have been working in the Kharkiv region for nearly a year. Their support program combines theoretical knowledge about psychological resilience with practical exercises and creative elements.
Each participant has the opportunity not only to listen, but also to reflect, process the material, share their own experiences, and later — to rethink them in private. Many find creative expression — through drawing, writing, or poetry — to be powerful tools for healing and self-discovery.
Our team psychologists say the most important thing is the feeling that you're not alone. These sessions bring together knowledge, creativity, and honest conversation. People draw, write, speak — and through that, they discover new strength within themselves.
According to the specialists, such meetings are especially vital for older adults, who often have limited access to psychological support.
In addition to attending the training sessions, Lidiia also sings in a local Ukrainian folk ensemble. Despite the war, the cultural center in Peresichne continues to operate, keeping the community’s cultural life alive.
"Life goes on. We've learned to be strong — but it's so important not to be strong alone," she says.
One of the participants in these training sessions is 77-year-old Lidiia, a resident of the village of Peresichne in the Kharkiv region. She attends the group meetings twice a week and calls them “a breath of fresh air.”
Lidiia Pavlivna graduated from Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and worked at a research institute in Kharkiv specializing in chemistry. After getting married, she moved to Peresichne, where she spent over 30 years working as a technician at an agricultural company. She retired in 2005 but was later invited back as an occupational safety engineer. Her work ended with the start of the full-scale invasion.
On the first day of the war, Lidiia was with her granddaughter at a hospital in Kharkiv. She remembers the sound of sirens, ambulances, and fire trucks—panic spread throughout the city. That same day, her daughter-in-law helped them evacuate to Peresichne, where she still lives today. The village avoided major destruction, although explosions hit just a few hundred meters from her home.
Since early 2023, Lidiia has been attending the support sessions run by the “Angels of Salvation” mobile teams. These meetings have helped her not only regain emotional balance, but also reconnect with old friends — including classmates she hadn’t seen in decades.
"You come in all closed up, like a hedgehog curled into a ball," she says, "but once you're there, you start to calm down."
According to Lidiia, the sessions help ease her mind and bring mental relief.
She also shared that she has returned to writing poetry — a hobby she loved back in her school days. At one of the psychological support group meetings, she even read one of her poems aloud:
The flowers laugh in white and yellow,
They don’t care if I am here.
So gentle, sweet, and soft, so mellow —.
What gifts can they all bring to me?
If I pick some to make my house pretty
For one day, maybe two or three,
But if I don’t. Who knows? No one’s that witty,
Who else will share this glee?
No way, I should just let them grow
To bring me joy and others so.
All around, the silence stays,
While nightingales sing soft refrains.
The “Angels of Salvation” mobile teams, in partnership with HIAS, have been working in the Kharkiv region for nearly a year. Their support program combines theoretical knowledge about psychological resilience with practical exercises and creative elements.
Each participant has the opportunity not only to listen, but also to reflect, process the material, share their own experiences, and later — to rethink them in private. Many find creative expression — through drawing, writing, or poetry — to be powerful tools for healing and self-discovery.
Our team psychologists say the most important thing is the feeling that you're not alone. These sessions bring together knowledge, creativity, and honest conversation. People draw, write, speak — and through that, they discover new strength within themselves.
According to the specialists, such meetings are especially vital for older adults, who often have limited access to psychological support.
In addition to attending the training sessions, Lidiia also sings in a local Ukrainian folk ensemble. Despite the war, the cultural center in Peresichne continues to operate, keeping the community’s cultural life alive.
"Life goes on. We've learned to be strong — but it's so important not to be strong alone," she says.
