Today, on the one-year after of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I look back and see what a difficult, tragic, sometimes unspeakably horrific path of transformation I, and perhaps the whole of Ukraine, have gone through. From confusion, fear, and paralysis to absolute confidence, a sense of our boundless power, an unbridled desire to act, and unity that has become our life jacket, or, first and foremost, my personal one.
Several months after the invasion began, I felt power to look for opportunities to be as useful and effective as possible, not only as a Ukrainian and a volunteer, but also as a psychologist that I am. These searches led me to the Psychologists at War project, which aimed to provide free psychological assistance and support, as well as primary medical counseling, to people in the territories of the Kyiv region affected by the Russian occupation. Today, the project has been running for six months, with two stages of work completed and the third one coming up. During this time, I and a group of 32 of my colleagues, psychologists and doctors, have traveled 104 times to the cities and towns of Kyiv region, which is more than 30 settlements. We managed to provide 3,657 psychological consultations, and heard many human stories of loss, pain, confusion, fear, struggle and desire to live, to overcome difficulties, love and hatred, stories about destroyed lives but also about the victory of everything humane under the pressure of a disgusting, unjustified war.