Olha Shnyt

Olha is a psychologist and civil activist working at the intersection of mental health, trauma-informed practice, inclusion, and community development in Ukraine. She is the founder and head of the NGO “Caring City,” which develops trauma-informed approaches for workers in third places in Lviv, with a focus on inclusive and ethical communication with veterans and war-affected communities. She also works as a project manager at “Neopalymi,” a national initiative supporting people with severe burn injuries caused by war, where she leads projects focused on strengthening psychological support systems for veterans.
Olha graduated from the Ukrainian Catholic University with a degree in Psychology, where she co-founded and led the student organization “Pidsvidomi.” Through the organization, she coordinated psychoeducational initiatives, public lectures, and collaborations with mental health institutions that engaged more than 600 students.
In the summer of 2025, Olha was a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern at Dalhousie University, where she studied the effectiveness of Written Exposure Therapy for youth with PTSD under the supervision of Patrick McGrath. She is also a Brave Generation Fellow and has participated in multiple Erasmus+ exchanges, including co-organizing the international program “Art of Wellbeing” in the Netherlands.
At First Aid of the Soul, Olha supports training coordination and facilitation efforts to help strengthen knowledge-sharing between Ukrainian mental health professionals and clinical experts from around the world. Her work focuses on expanding access to innovative, evidence-based practices and supporting the integration of global mental health expertise into the Ukrainian context.
“I came to First Aid of the Soul looking for ways to contribute to the development of mental health care in Ukraine and found a team already doing exactly that. Through my research on Written Exposure Therapy at Dalhousie University, I became deeply convinced that innovative, evidence-based approaches like WET should become more accessible within Ukrainian clinical practice. I am grateful to be part of a project that brings meaningful knowledge and opportunities to Ukrainian psychologists, and I hope to contribute my research background and coordination experience to help support that mission.”