More than 22,000 children in Ukraine have been helped with our trauma healing techniques by Kyiv-based charity Hope Worldwide Ukraine, with 91% of participants reporting an improvement in their overall mental condition.
Set up in 2015, after the first Russian invasion, the charity’s Helping Hand For Ukraine programme has helped 22,700 children and 5,600 adults to gain psychological self-help skills based on our TRT programme. This has been achieved through more 2,500 group therapy courses in over 150 locations across the war-torn country. Today they have created a network across Ukraine of more than 100 organisations and 2,250 trained professionals supporting this work.
After their therapy courses, 79% of participants last year reported a significant reduction in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The full-scale war continues to test us,” says charity president Volodymyr Yermakov. “Daily shelling, losses, and instability are shaping a new reality in which an entire generation is growing up. Today, we are facing not only a humanitarian crisis, but also a large-scale challenge to the nation’s mental health that requires a systemic and long-term response.”
The effects of the war on young people’s mental health are stark. The charity reports that 44% of adolescents in Ukraine are showing signs of potential PTSD, increasing to 68% in frontline areas. More than 40% of children are suffering from sleep disturbances, intrusive memories and learning difficulties as a result of traumatic experiences. Some 16% of children show symptoms of depressive disorders, which is double the pre-war level.
The impact of conflict-related trauma – and the potential for recovery – are vividly illustrated by the stories of two children helped with TRT, which are described in Hope Worldwide Ukraine’s Annual Report for 2025. Here are their stories.
Karina, 16 years old: light through embraces
Karina was born in the village of Novodonetske and lives with her mother and father as their only child. Since the beginning of the war, her family was forced to relocate to Lozova in the Kharkiv region to live with relatives. Karina is a communicative, active, gentle and creative girl.
During the therapy sessions, she shared a traumatic memory: “It was the spring of 2022. We already knew what ‘arrivals’ and air raid sirens were, but that night was extremely loud. When we heard explosions, we immediately ran into the corridor. We already had a mattress and everything needed to spend the night there.
“The power went out, the windows were vibrating, the explosions were very close, and they could be heard very loudly. My parents quickly put me on the mattress and lay on top of me, covering me with their bodies. We lay like that for 10–15 minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
“I remember my father’s words: ‘Everything will be okay, sweetheart, we are here.’ It felt so unreal, terrifying, and safe at the same time. Fragments of a missile fell into our yard — everything was burning.
“Even though the house survived and we were unharmed, my parents decided to leave immediately. The next day we packed our things and went to Lozova to my aunt. I can’t say it was calmer there, but we were together as a family.
“Later, my parents rented an apartment — and we began a new chapter of our life. Since summer 2022, I started attending camps and traveling across Ukraine (she smiles). I saw the Carpathians and Podillia — I am at this camp already for the second time.”
Using TRT, Karina actively engaged in breathing and tactile exercises, relaxation through tension release and sensory techniques. She loves drawing, especially with paints. During the processing of her traumatic memory, she drew that night in her apartment and transformed the image into gentle and strong embraces of both parents.
Artem, 15 years old: memory anchor
Artem spoke about how long he struggled to fall asleep after being evacuated from his native village. The new city, unfamiliar walls and strange voices all felt temporary, as if he were only stopping there for one night. But that night had lasted for years.
He often remembered his grandfather’s hand — warm, rough, with the smell of earth. They always hid together when the siren sounded. His grandfather used to joke that their cellar was like a spaceship and they were a crew flying through a storm. Artem laughed then, although his heart tightened with fear.
When they were evacuated, his grandfather stayed behind. “I have lived here all my life, Artem. I am not afraid. But you must go on living,” he said, hugging his grandson. Those words became an anchor in the boy’s soul — painful, but strong.
“In the new place, Artem stayed silent. His thoughts remained where the neighbour’s house burned, where the ground shook from explosions, where his grandfather watered tomatoes even while rockets flew overhead.
“But over time, something changed. In the TRT sessions, he began to speak. First cautiously, then more confidently. He learned to breathe more deeply when sirens went off. He learned to imagine a safe place — not a fantasy, but his real home.”
