The All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program "How Are You?" is launching a new campaign with veterans. As part of this initiative, they want to teach Ukrainians to respect the experience of our defenders and not to traumatize them with uncomfortable questions. First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska spoke about the project on her Facebook page, UNN reports.
This is Kateryna, a veteran and combat medic. After almost four years of service, she works for a charity foundation and admits that she is still adapting to civilian life. She says that in war, you are required to do the minimum: survive and make sure that others survive. In civilian life, everything seems much more complicated, and it's not so easy to get used to it.
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The goal of the new initiative within the project "Are you okay?" is to remind that the experience of defenders is worthy of respect, and that recovery requires support. The President's wife emphasized that veterans need to understand civilians in order to adapt to society after the traumatic experience of war.
Veterans want to get on with their lives - study, start families, build careers. However, their military experience is with them forever, and to return to life, they need the respect and understanding of civilians. We never know what a person we meet has been through. Let's remember this when we want to ask about their combat experience and when we just want to say "thank you.
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It is noted that this campaign was created thanks to the Veterans Reintegration Program, implemented by IREX with the support of the US Department of State, and the USAID - US Agency for International Development project "Building a Sustainable Public Health System", implemented by the Pact organization.
Charitable foundations and non-governmental organizations ready to support veteran professionals. Veterans can find them and ask for help at link.