Rehabilitation of Ukrainian women after war crimes

Woman Magazine In March, women and children who had survived the hell of war crimes came to the camp of the Unbreakable Mom project from the Masha Foundation with the assistance of the Prosecutor General’s Office. For three weeks, the program’s psychologists restored their will to live. And now they have told us how this extremely important and extremely difficult rehabilitation took place.

A dimmed and wary look, a barely noticeable smile, tension in his movements, and caution in his communication. These are the 13 Ukrainian families who came to the camp of the psycho-emotional stabilization program “Unbreakable Mom”. These women and children survived war crimes committed by the Russian military, including abuse and sexual violence.

“The corridors of the camp were quiet and sparsely populated in the first days of the shift,” says Tatyana Muratkina, head of the Masha Foundation. “The women and children were suspicious and looked at each other and our psychologists with a close eye. They usually lived in small towns that were under the occupation of Russian troops. They were not used to being taken care of, not used to getting something for free. And they were wary because they did not know what would happen to them in the camp. They thought that there were no stories like theirs, that they were alone with their grief, with their hell. But this was not the case.”

Masha Tatiana Muratkina Foundation

Gradually, the psychologists of the “Unbreakable Mom” reached out to mothers who are really unbreakable, to their children who really wanted and needed communication. The project participants realized that they were not alone in their misfortune. That they are not to blame for what happened to them. The main goal of therapy is to consider trauma as one of life’s moments. Life was before and life continues after. And you shouldn’t give it up.

“It is impossible to heal completely in three weeks. This is a long-term work. But during this time, we can restore the desire to live, plan our future, and believe in the best,” says Iryna Basista, a psychologist with the project. “Gradually, our indomitable mothers relax and start communicating with each other. The result of our work is visible and audible: the dining room and corridors become noisy, and smiles appear on the faces of women and children. People who used to shudder at every touch start hugging each other. Of course, the hell they experienced does not disappear. But over time, it becomes the past and gives way to plans for the future. By the way, yes, our women begin to dream and plan travel, life after returning home, and a new job.”

Masha Foundation psychologist Basista

The majority of this particular shift came to the Unbreakable Mom camp with sleep disorders. And thanks to 3 weeks of work with psychologists, they returned to sound sleep:

“At the end of the shift, some of the women started saying they were ready for a new relationship. “This is the highest achievement of our project,” says Tetiana Muratkina, “Our girls no longer wallow in their grief, no longer drown in thoughts like, ‘What if I had left, what if I hadn’t gone out, what if I hadn’t gone into that house…’ They will never forget what happened to them, but they can learn to live with the experience and move on.”