Support Ukrainian Blue Cross work & refugees

Blue Cross Poland youth project for refugee children is an important success to help children to integrate to local community. Parents have also an opportunity to engage with each other and to receive meaningful tasks to fill their days whilst settling to a new place. Blue Crosses give a place where children and parents can be active participants  in rebuilding life in a new situation. It is important to have the opportunity that people with facilitation skills can enable safe space for discussing new circumstances. Facilitated peer support is known to be an effective long term support for dealing with changes in person’s life. It helps to realise nobody needs to cope alone and problem shared enables new perspectives for solutions with people in similar situation. The support prevents people from turning to negative behaviours such as alcohol and other addictions and to agreesive behaviour.

Some of the key points when people feel supported in a new life situation:

• through sharing and listening to others with same struggles
• accepting that it is ok to feel mixed feelings
• in a group issues become real and truth liberates, even bad things said out loud to others in similar situation is liberating
• realisation that one does not need to cope alone

The work with Ukraine refugees continues in Blue Cross Poland and Blue Cross Romania based on the above self help group principles. Thank you for your support, it helps us to build new beginnings to people’s life!