The main goal was to support children and parents in the first months of the war, create a space for resource recovery, help stabilize their emotional state, provide techniques to reduce stress, and create an opportunity to work through various emotions in a playful and creative way.
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Parents were given the opportunity to share their experiences, work through problems and respond to the challenges they faced. An important point during the meetings was to understand how to interact with children in a safe way during crisis situations, taking into account the age characteristics of children in order to better understand and support them.
One of the techniques chosen by the experts was clay therapy, where parents "kneaded their emotions" together with their children and created crafts. This collaboration between parents and children allowed them not only to better understand and feel themselves on a deeper level, but also to establish relationships in the family and the environment.
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Psychological art studio for children and adolescents affected by the hostilities in Chernihiv
A space was created in the city of Chernihiv where children and their parents could understand their needs, find answers, realize their strategies and find ecologically sound ways out of conflicts through art therapy and leisure activities.
The space was opened in more "stable times" when the military situation in Chernihiv region became calmer.
This made it possible to conduct the courses “The Way to Success” and “Harmonization of the Emotional State”, to improve the psycho-emotional state, increase stress resistance, and explore one's own resources and strengths.
A group “Family as a Source of Strength” was organized for parents, where participants were able to learn to understand their needs and the needs of their loved ones, as well as to work out their specific request using art therapy techniques.
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Psychological art studio for children and adolescents affected by the hostilities in Stryi, Lviv region
Special emphasis was placed on providing psychological support to children who had been displaced from their homes as a result of the evacuation. Each of them faced the challenge of adapting and integrating into a new environment and finding common ground with new classmates and the school community. As a result, the community of Stryi initiated the psychological support center “Children in Embrace”.
The psychological techniques used with the children focused on addressing their needs, desires, dreams, fears, anxieties, triggers, and emotions.
Classes were aimed to improve communication among the children, discussing topics such as friendship and introducing the concept of “My Tree of Strength and Support” to discover inner strength and support.
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Psychosocial support classes and therapeutic tea parties were held for parents, where participants worked with their own fears, emotional burnout, triggers, and traumatic experiences.
Most of the parents are women who talked about the problems of war and their husbands' service in the Ukrainian army. Most of them are local residents whose children have experienced blackouts, air raids, and the death of their fathers. Parents talked about their worries about their children and their husbands. The main point is emotional exhaustion, severe anxiety, fears for the lives of themselves and their children, and the inability to control events.
Currently, psychological art studios for children and adolescents operate in Kharkiv and Dnipro.