OUR STORY
“Ukraine is and will always be my home, my heart” (quote from our Founder)
It has been heartbreaking and very painful to witness the current atrocities taking place in and against Ukraine. Many dear friends and family are endangered, staying in bomb shelters across whole nation. Nevertheless, Ukraine is showing her resilience, her glory, and her unity in times of horror; this is what keeps us going and staying hopeful for a better tomorrow. Although, the Ukrainian people reveal their resilience every day and have so much strength they still need global support -- your support!
On February 25, 2022, the day after the full-scale invasion of Russia's war against Ukraine, our Founder and Executive Director Nathalie Robelot-Timtchenko sent out a call for action within her various networks and communities of mental health professionals. The call to action invited fellow colleagues as well as experts in the field to offer pro bono psychosocial and emotional support services to those being affected by the war. In less than one week Nathalie received an outstanding amount of responses, over 450+ volunteers, and professionally trained mental health providers signed up to help support Ukraine with their expertise.
In the last several months, First Aid of the Soul (FAS) has established its core team, a group of volunteer mental health professionals trained at leading universities from around the globe specializing in a variety of trauma-focused therapeutic methods - embodied approaches (i.e., mindfulness, trauma-sensitive yoga, grounding), expressive art therapies (i.e., art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, etc.), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and crisis intervention strategies (i.e., psychological first aid specialists, trauma response methods, etc.). This highly experienced team is developing a comprehensive support infrastructure in a safe and confidential manner. FAS has done this by offering free-of-charge virtual support services in the following ways:
We have done this by offering weekly wellness drop-ins and self-compassion care support groups (oriented towards self-care and self-help tools) for displaced people and mental health professionals from Ukraine, ongoing supervision-mentorship and ongoing top-quality trainings-workshops in English to Ukrainian to our dear Ukrainian colleagues, mental health professionals and frontline workers. These trainings are to provide support and guidance in trauma centric care with ongoing crisis. Lastly we have self-help resources available (free) for caregivers/guardians, adults, and mental health professionals) accessible in Ukrainian, English and Russian.
Moreover, FAS aims to continue extending our services to support displaced people in and outside of Ukraine in order to reach a larger community through partnerships with other organizations that coincide with our mission.
We value your support to continue this powerful and critical work.
With gratitude,
FAS Team