The ongoing war has significantly affected all layers of population and spheres of life, including, without exaggeration, all 15 million Ukrainian families…
Following eight years of the war in Eastern Ukraine, which Russia started in 2014, and the escalation in violence at an unimaginable scale in February 2022, many Ukrainian families have found themselves in shock, desperate for safety, and in need of essential services, including health, education, protection, water and sanitation.
Moreover, a great number of Ukrainian families have been separated, with wives and children often living apart from their husbands and fathers. It is not about only families of the servicemen who are defending their motherland. The war has sparked displacement on a scale and speed not seen since World War II. More than 7.7 million individual refugees from Ukraine had been recorded across Europe, while millions more people had been internally displaced in Ukraine.
In addition to displacement, financial and health issues, lack of safety and essential services, damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure, the war causes mental problems which directly impact family relationships, in particular post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by war veterans, grief of those who have lost their dear ones, acceptance of the need to care about the wounded family members, etc.
Therefore, being aware that untreated mental health concerns can affect entire families and trying to be responsive to the needs of our suffering nation, we have launched a new program in family Counseling aimed at training and equipping family Christian counselors to make them able to assist families in a comfortable, supportive, and Christ-centered atmosphere.
Pray please about this new direction in our ministry so that many Ukrainian families suffering deep psychological scars could benefit from the expertise of trained Christian mental health professionals who would demonstrate the love of Christ to them.