“Tree of My Life”: Helping those who help others

Mental health is particularly important for survivors of war, and providing effective psychological assistance can be a critical factor in the recovery process. The work in the cozy premises of the three cities of Zakarpattia enhances the accessibility of help for those who need it.

“We, a team of professional counselors, psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists: symbolic dramatists, art therapists, gestalt counselors, body-oriented counselors, resource-oriented counselors, provide psychological counseling in the psychological, resource, educational and cultural space ”THE TREE OF MY LIFE. WE ARE FOR YOU! “ – with these words I begin my acquaintance with the charitable organization ”Tree of My Life”. In the cozy premises of three cities of Zakarpattia – Uzhhorod, Mukachevo and Svaliava – the best specialists hold meetings and events aimed at people every day. People who have been affected by the war in one way or another. 

“At the beginning of the war, together with my colleague Ksenia-Teresa Tarnavska, a candidate for psychotherapy, we created a project of psychological resource support for victims of the war with Russia. This project was not born by chance, because nothing happens by chance in this life. For almost more than a year, life itself, circumstances, and events have been leading up to it. The essence of our project is to provide group face-to-face psychological and resource support and support to all war victims during a certain cycle of meetings. We are talking about a dozen of them, with 7-9 people in the group. A session can last 60-120 minutes, depending on the intensity. Resource support is aimed at volunteers, military families, soldiers themselves, internally displaced families who stay in the region for a longer period, children whose parents sent them here to live alone to save their lives, as well as fellow Zakarpattians who need additional support to restore their psycho-emotional strength,” says Liubov Mykhailiuk, founder of the psychological and educational space ‘Tree of My Life.’

Ksenia-Teresa Tarnavska emphasizes the goal of the Tree of My Life improving the psycho-emotional state of children (preventing the development of PTSD, etc.); psychoeducation and improving the psycho-emotional state of parents, creating a healthy family environment; psycho-emotional support for the elderly; helping military personnel to regulate their psycho-emotional state (preventing the development of PTSD, etc.); helping military families cope with difficulties in reunification and returning to peaceful life; psycho-emotional support for volunteers.  

With a smile, I watch one of the traditional monthly cultural and educational meetings in the Uzhgorod community. It was devoted to a drink that is special to the heart of every Zakarpattian – coffee. At first, Uzhgorod history researcher Tetiana Literati told the audience about coffee and coffee substitutes that Uzhhorod residents consumed in the twentieth century. She recalled the “Zolotyi Klyuchyk” coffee shop and other city cafes, and shared family methods of making coffee. After that, Lilia Lukecha, a guest of the space, a volunteer and owner of a popular coffee shop, spoke about coffee trends and, while making a special coffee on hot sand in front of everyone, answered numerous questions about what kind of coffee Zakarpattians like, why they consume such strong coffee, and how to make this drink on sand at home.

“Afterwards, we tasted aromatic coffee with spices, had cookies and talked a lot – it turned out to be extremely warm and tasty! I recommend you to follow the announcements so that you don’t miss the next interesting meetings. It helps a lot, because when you are always under pressure from circumstances, when you seem to be falling on your face because of fatigue, when you need to volunteer but don’t have the resources, meetings at the “Tree of My Life” save you, ” said M. Petrova, who attended the event. 

It is worth mentioning that Tetiana Literati is the head of the cultural and educational department of the charitable organization, and she is actively involved in the activities of the space: city tours, lectures, participation in workshops, and talks about traditions, etc. In particular, she shared the achievements of one of the educational and cultural events aimed at rehabilitating the military. Thus, on the eve of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the soldiers made almost 15 kg of kiflyks (sweets filled with jam). Tree of My Life holds such events on a regular basis, trying to “pull out” those guys who might leave the ward every month. “In the fall, we gave the boys city tours, and now, with the weather deteriorating, we have moved indoors. This time, we asked confectioner Liubov Keretsmanto conduct a master class on making kiflyks . “We decided to bake kiflyky, a traditional Zakarpattia delicacy, and the guys gladly agreed, saying they hadn’t cooked anything for a long time,” says Literati. “They made them with apricot and plum jam and nut filling. There was one baker among the guys who was sitting in the corner at first, his leg was injured, and then he couldn’t stand it and joined the others. He said he couldn’t watch the guys make crooked pastry… Our military psychology consultant, who also made kiflyk with the guys, Pavlo Gudra, says that when the guys talk, start telling what they ate, how they fought, it is a very good sign that they are comfortable and want to talk. Every Monday, Pavlo visits those guys in hospitals who cannot leave their beds and wards and talks to them,” she says.

Our soldiers-defenders today need good psycho-emotional support and a powerful resource to continue to find motivation and inner strength to defend our country during the almost two-year exhausting full-scale occupation of the country by the aggressor-Russia. It is this motivation and inner resource that our soldiers receive at regular psychological support groups and individual counseling at the “Tree of My Life”. Today, psychological support is provided on a regular basis to every soldier undergoing treatment in 4 medical institutions in Uzhgorod and Mukachevo. One group of psychological support for the military in the “Tree of…” space who are undergoing treatment in Uzhgorod. 2 groups of psychological support for defenders who are on rotation and motivational groups for those soldiers who have to leave to defend the country and the people.

At the same time, the “Tree…” has regular psychological support groups for wives of soldiers whose husbands are on the front line; mothers of soldiers whose sons are on the front line; wives of soldiers whose husbands are in treatment. Psychological support groups are open for our female defenders; for families who have lost a loved one in this war; for families whose relatives are missing or in captivity, as well as for those who have survived captivity

There are also active groups in the space, in particular, those who want to take zumba classes. training with Valentyna Kasych is currently held twice a week. “Valentyna Kasych’s Zumba classes allow us to relax and open up in Latin dance, which is full of sensuality and fluidity of movement. We learned to make beautiful movements with our hands! Although it is not always easy to move both feet and hands at the same time, but… it is a dance and we create it. As we want, as we know how, as we dance. Each participant creates her own solo dance… it’s cool! There are also stretching classes for older ladies. We explored our flexibility, endurance, joint stretching… it was so good! And useful!” says Ivanna Popovych, a participant of the classes .

Lectures and educational meetings are also held in the space. One of the latter was attended by 1st and 2nd year students majoring in International Journalism. The topic of the meeting concerned the rules and etiquette of communication with military personnel.

“Our task is to give people a sense of stability,” the Tree of My Life says, and for this purpose they actively use all the tools of such social technology as self-help groups (group social and psychological rehabilitation). According to the GURT Resource Center, which supported the Zakarpattian CO, Lyubov Mykhailiuk first had experience working with support groups in 2017 as part of a project on rehabilitation and habilitation of families of ATO participants. That project was aimed at adapting the military who had returned from the war to civilian life and their families to new conditions. And after the full-scale invasion, a lot of work began. Thus, the psychological and educational project created at the request of the time in a month and a half became the basis for the creation of the charitable organization “Tree of My Life” in April 2022. The project team included (and continues to include) specialists of various profiles.  

At the end of the calendar year 2023, in the Uzhgorod center, together with the specialist Marta Mykhailets, they summarized the results of one of the areas, in particular, they talked about financial literacy, and together they planned career goals and a professional growth plan for 2024.

“Specifically, we talked about: setting career goals; planning professional and financial growth; opportunities to monetize your talents; career, freelance, or own business? What’s the difference and how to make the right choice?”; effective presentation of oneself on the labor market. The next such events will be announced on January 6 next year,” said Marta.

Co-founder of the “Tree of My Life” Charitable Foundation Liubov Mykhailiuk summarizes: “The potential of mutual assistance is enormous. One of our missions is also to explain our own responsibility: for our actions in the group and outside it. Unfortunately, not everyone in society is ready for this. But this needs to be developed and taught. We need to start with psychological education. Explain that it is important to be able to ask for help, that this is not a weakness, but rather a step of a responsible person. The person who asks for support is the one who wants to master the situation but realizes that he or she cannot do it alone. A person in the group asks for such support (even if they do not expressly say so) and receives it. Now, in times of war, it is not recommended to engage in group psychotherapy, as psychotherapy involves regression. A person is immersed in deep problems, and this limits their determination to act. Psychological resource groups and self-help groups are focused on the here and now. They are designed to help you understand your current state, what you can build on, and what internal and external resources you have. The purpose of such groups is to enable a person to support their family, friends, and colleagues after the group. Having a resource, they will be useful in their community and will want to develop the environment in which they live. For successful group social and psychological rehabilitation, it is important to understand all these internal mechanisms and interrelationships, because they explain the essence of the psychological support group.”

All information about events, announcements and how to join the groups in Uzhhorod, Mukachevo and Svaliava can be found on the Facebook pages of the “Tree of My Life” centers:

Uzhgorod

Mukachevo

Svaliava

As well as in the Telegram channel, where there are schedules of the centers and announcements of all events and activities organized by the “Tree of My Life” in Zakarpattia.

Reference. The material was prepared and published within the framework of the project “Active Community: The Right to Choose”, which is supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development.

Note. The mission of Active Community is to achieve prosperity through the democratic development of Ukrainian communities. The goal for 2025 is to activate and engage at least 1% of citizens in decision-making and promoting reforms in Ukraine on a systematic basis for the well-being of Ukrainian communities. The initiative was created as part of the activities of the Institute “Respublica”. We work to increase the conscious activity of citizens.

Author: Oleksandra Artyukhina, communication coordinator of the All-Ukrainian Initiative “Active Community” in Uzhhorod

Source : ag.com.ua