Estonia is assisting Ukrainian fighters and their families with psychological first aid.
Estonian mental health specialists will help hundreds of injured Ukrainian fighters and their families in the coming year by providing psychological first aid to families and organizing mental health counseling training for Ukrainian healthcare institutions. The first visit of the Estonian experts to Ukraine will take place in early July.
Within the project, at least 300 families with psychological traumas will receive counseling in Ukraine throughout the year, and specialized training and information days will be organized for a total of 200 Ukrainian healthcare specialists and university professors. The project will also host Ukrainian specialists in Estonia in 2023/2024 for some of the project's training sessions.
The collaboration project involves experts from PERH, ITK, and the Tallinn Health Care College from Estonia. The main partners from Ukraine are the World Association of Doctors, the Association of Doctors of the Carpathian Region, the Chairman of the Board of which is Oleksandr Marusyn member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences; head of the department of physical rehabilitation, sports medicine, physical education and valeology of Odesa National Medical University, prof. Olga Yushkovska; Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry of the International Academy of Ecology and Medicine, Prof. Valentin Postrelko; Associate Professor of the Department of Psychiatry, Narcology and Medical Psychology of the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University Iryna Kahno; colonel of the medical service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, chief physician of the Irpinsky military hospital Andriy Kikh.
According to Inge Suder, a member of the Board of Directors of the Estonian Medical Export Cluster, one in five people who have been in a war situation in the past ten years suffers from various mental health disorders, ranging from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to bipolar disorders and schizophrenia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "Expanding the aforementioned statistics to Ukraine, an estimated 9.6 million people in Ukraine are at risk of various mental disorders. Increased availability of psychological first aid after traumatic events helps people cope better and helps the Ukrainian healthcare system deal with the burdens more effectively."
"The professional training of Ukrainian healthcare workers and university professors, along with the basic knowledge course in psychological first aid, will help sustainably apply and disseminate the acquired knowledge in the coming years. Until recently, very little attention has been paid to the sustainable development of the mental health field in Ukraine. In a state of war, the need for professional psychological assistance has become critically important, and the weak state of the mental health field has become a significant bottleneck in the healthcare system," emphasizes Suder the importance and goal of the project to improve the mental health situation of the assisted fighters and their families, and the training and practice of mental health specialists in both Ukraine and Estonia will help Ukraine better cope with the mental health crisis.
"In the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the question of rehabilitation is a question of Ukraine's national security. Rehabilitation in the context of psychological care occupies one of the central places in the modern psychological rehabilitation of military personnel, since military stress has a chronic cause and a tendency to gradually worsen over time. Rehabilitation is needed today not only by military personnel returning from the front, but also by their parents, wives, and children. Psychologists will be needed by people in the zone of temporary occupation, living in frontline areas, internally displaced persons, as well as those who have relatives in the occupied territory.Journalists, policemen, firefighters, construction workers, electricians and other people who for a long time perform their professional duties almost on the front line, i.e. in extreme and traumatic conditions, may also be among the potential patients of rehabilitation centers. The professional training of Ukrainian medical workers in this field is an archival issue and will help Ukraine win this war and overcome all its consequences. We thank our Estonian partners for their support and help" - says Oleksandr Marusyn, Chairman of the Board of the World Association of Doctors, member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
"In the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the question of rehabilitation is a question of Ukraine's national security. Rehabilitation in the context of psychological care occupies one of the central places in the modern psychological rehabilitation of military personnel, since military stress has a chronic cause and a tendency to gradually worsen over time. Rehabilitation is needed today not only by military personnel returning from the front, but also by their parents, wives, and children. Psychologists will be needed by people in the zone of temporary occupation, living in frontline areas, internally displaced persons, as well as those who have relatives in the occupied territory.Journalists, policemen, firefighters, construction workers, electricians and other people who for a long time perform their professional duties almost on the front line, i.e. in extreme and traumatic conditions, may also be among the potential patients of rehabilitation centers. The professional training of Ukrainian medical workers in this field is an archival issue and will help Ukraine win this war and overcome all its consequences. We thank our Estonian partners for their support and help" - says Oleksandr Marusyn, Chairman of the Board of the World Association of Doctors, member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
The project is supported by the Estonian Development Cooperation Center (ESTDEV) and is led by the Estonian Medical Export Cluster, which has a long-standing cooperation with Ukrainian healthcare institutions in various healthcare projects.
