Help for the wounded in Ukraine during the war

How do you live when your heart is split in two, and one half has gone missing? For 52-year-old Olena (name changed), this past year became a year of endless waiting. Her husband disappeared during a combat mission, and since then, time has stood still for her. Life turned into one endless gray zone: no sleep, no taste for food, no desire to see the sunlight.

When Olena’s daughter brought her to our center, we met a woman who had almost “disappeared” together with her husband. Deep depression, apathy, and complete self-denial — Olena felt guilty for every breath she took while not knowing where her loved one was. She stopped communicating with friends and locked herself inside her grief like a shell.

“I simply forgot that I existed. There was only him, and this emptiness between us,” she admitted during the first session.

The work with psychologists focused on the most difficult challenge — ambiguous loss. Over the course of 10 sessions, together with Olena, we learned to distinguish between the things she could not control and the areas where she could once again become the author of her own life. It was a journey from total helplessness toward recognizing her own resilience.

We used cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, acute stress relief exercises, and resource restoration methods. Olena learned how to breathe again, reconnect with her body, and most importantly — allow herself to keep living.

Today, Olena is difficult to recognize:

She returned to her longtime hobby — painting. Colors have reappeared on her canvases. Seeing these changes, her daughter gifted her new paints, crying with joy that “Mom is back.”

Olena also started going to the gym to restore strength to her body.

She not only mastered self-help techniques, but also began teaching them to her colleagues at work, transforming her pain into a source of support for others.

Her grief for her husband has not disappeared; it has become part of her story. But now she says: “My life goes on. And the quality of that life is my responsibility to myself and my family.”

This story is about light overcoming the darkness of uncertainty. Thanks to your support, we are able to provide professional psychological assistance to women like Olena, helping them reclaim their right to live — even when it feels as though meaning has been lost forever.

Thank you for standing beside those who wait and continue to fight.

Links:

• The "Your Support" Family Center for Mental Wellbeing