Beyond Survival, Choosing Life: Pathways to Recovery for Ukrainian Veterans and Families
Webinar Transcript — 11 March 2026
SESSION 1: Trauma and Rehabilitation
Opening and Welcome
Iryna Hubeladze Head, Department of Mass and Communities Psychology, Institute for Social and Political Psychology (ISPP), National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine — Session 1 Moderator
Good morning, everyone — good afternoon, depending on where you are joining us from. My name is Iryna Hubeladze, and I'm a social psychologist from Ukraine, from the Institute for Social and Political Psychology at the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine. It is my honor to moderate this international webinar. It is the second webinar we have conducted with our partners, and today my core coordinator, Beate Seibt from the University of Oslo and Solidarity Hub in Oslo, joins us. Thank you for joining us today for the webinar "Be answerable, consciously choose a life pathway of recovery for Ukrainian veterans and their families."
We truly appreciate your time, your attention, and your willingness to engage in this very important and sensitive topic.
(Technical note from organizer: Ukrainian participants can turn on simultaneous interpretation by going to the interpretation function — either find the globe on your screen or go into the three-dot menu for additional functions. There you can choose interpretation for Ukrainian or English.)
Before we begin our discussion, I would like to invite all of us to take a minute of silence in memory of the soldiers and civilians who have lost their lives in Russia's war against Ukraine, and of all people killed in different wars around the world.
(Moment of silence)
Thank you.
For more than two years — in fact, since 2014, with the full-scale invasion beginning later — millions of Ukrainians have experienced profound loss, displacement, and trauma. Among the most deeply affected are Ukrainian veterans and their families. Their challenges include not only the difficulties of returning from combat, but also the long-term psychological, social, and relational consequences of war. For some, these experiences involve severe trauma related to captivity, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence.
Alongside these painful realities, we also witness resilience, courage, and determination to rebuild life. This webinar invites us to look closely at an important question: How do veterans and their families move beyond survival, and what does it mean to consciously choose life after profound trauma?
This is our second webinar. The first was conducted in April 2025 — if you were not able to attend, you can access it as a recording. This year we continue in collaboration between several institutions and initiatives: AHALAR, represented by Yuriy Usovich and Yuriy Trokhymenko, from Chernihiv, Ukraine; the Institute for Social and Political Psychology at the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, represented by me; the International Forum for Understanding, represented by Les Simm, from Cambridge, Great Britain; the University of Oslo, represented by Beate Seibt, Oslo, Norway; and Mental Health and Human Rights Info, represented by Elisabeth Langdal, Nora Sveaass, and Anna Fedina, also from Oslo, Norway.
This event brings together researchers, practitioners, veteran organizations, civil society actors, and international partners to share knowledge and perspectives. We will explore how traumatic experiences shape veterans' psychological reactions and coping strategies, how families are affected and how they adapt, how severe violence and sexual and gender-based violence complicate recovery, and what helps people rebuild relationships and meaning after trauma.
A few practical points: the webinar will be held in English and Ukrainian with simultaneous interpretation. Please keep your microphone muted during presentations. You are welcome to write questions in the chat or ask them during the Q&A sessions. Some topics discussed today may be emotionally difficult. Please feel free to take a short pause if you need it, and take care of yourself.
Today's webinar will last approximately four hours. It will include expert presentations, reflections from practitioners and veterans, and open discussion. Thank you for being here and for your commitment to supporting dignity, recovery, and life. Let us begin.
Presentation: What Helps Veterans to Choose Life? Experiences of What Works and What Does Not Work
Yuriy Trokhymenko Development Director, AHALAR Center for Humanistic Technologies; Trainer, Psychotherapist, and Retreat Facilitator; Developer of Revitalization Programs for Veterans and Military Families
My presentation is about returning to life through somatic or bodily resources — restoration retreats.
I would like to focus on one aspect of our team's work: restoration retreats, body-resourced balance. We need to explain what retreats are, because you cannot really talk about them — you need to come and experience one. I will show you some slides and then a short video.
I will not talk about rehabilitation. I will talk about returning to life — revitalization.
We all understand that in Ukraine, there are millions of people living in a state of frozen trauma. Our retreat approach differs somewhat from classical therapy. We follow a somatic restoration approach. When a traumatic moment breaks and freezes us in time, that moment separates us from everything else. Our purpose is not to dig into the past. We don't ask people to retell their horrors again and again. We invite them to restore the life that each of us has, and let it function to the fullest.
Our main task is not to work with the narrative of the past. We don't ask people to retail their trauma, because trauma lives not in the event but in our nervous system. Sometimes discussion is not beneficial — it can even be harmful, causing a secondary traumatization experience, because our brain does not understand words the way it understands memories. So when we live through self-awareness here and now, we try to create a current of healing rather than reviving the trauma. We give the nervous system the opportunity to clear the barriers of past experience by itself.
What we work with is the formation of a stable container in their lives — the ability to work through severe situations without becoming overwhelmed. In this retreat, we form such a container both internally and externally. That is why, as trainers, we maintain clear and firm boundaries and a leadership position. We stop processes that increase trauma, even if people would like to share their traumatic experience. We don't allow that in a group setting, because we need to create a safe environment for healing.
We follow a tried and proven structure — an architecture of restoration: purification, building resources, and integration. A four-to-five-day period is minimally sufficient for real change. Many participants call it magic. I tell them: this is not magic, this is biology. Change happens not at the level of logical schemes, but when we go into the deep existential level. A person who has been depressed for three years can begin to see the light in four days. People who could not sleep without sleeping medicine can sleep on their own. Some people stop taking antidepressants. That might look like a miracle, but it is the transformation of the body.
We legalize feelings and the right to live. Military ideology often devalues life. Joy might be considered a kind of treason. This is functional for war, but it is destructive for mental health. We try to bring people back to basic needs: taking care of ourselves is not betrayal, living is normal, rejoicing is not shameful. We focus not on trauma but on the sources of life that we all have.
Many people wonder how we can combine a retreat for veterans, widows, and wives of active-duty soldiers. Some believe this is not possible, but because we work outside the narrative, it is possible for us. We focus on individual change in a group setting, which later improves family relationships.
As a result of our retreats, we see a great deal of positive change: decreased anxiety — often the first time a person will feel peace and comfort; restoration of sleep, which means the nervous system has entered a healing mode; the ability to feel emotions again; and the ability to make changes in life. We are working with the physiology of life. We learn how to choose life here and now, because each of us has an invincible power to heal.
We would like to systematize this as methodology and begin teaching others how to do it. But for now, to give you a feeling of the atmosphere — let us watch a short video.
(Video plays featuring testimonial from retreat participant Molina, a veteran, wife of a serviceman, and mother of many children)
Video testimonial (Molina): I am a veteran, and a wife of a serviceman and mother of many children. All my roles fully explain why I came to this retreat. I needed resources, strength, and resilience. The first step of a warrior toward recovery — at a retreat — is not heroics. At that moment, it is important to say: I am tired. I really cannot go on like this anymore. At the retreat, I am allowed to cry. I can show that I'm tired. I can drop my shoulders and say: I cannot move like this anymore — and I will not be judged, I will not be condemned. I was allowed to take off the mask of strength. I could really breathe. That is why I am so emotional here.
There is a Japanese art called kintsugi — when we glue together broken cups and color the cracks with gold. A broken soul, a broken life, can be restored in this retreat. The places of these scars can be painted with gold. This shows the value of what I survived — post-traumatic growth. I am not denying the past; it happened. I cannot get rid of it. But now I have the opportunity to understand that I can move forward and choose life again and again.
I heard someone say: the body responds first and forgets last. My body remembers things that my mind has dropped into the unconscious, deep into memory. The body always responds faster than our thoughts, and that is why working with the body is a bridge between external and internal quietness. When we have touch, when we have ritual moments and walks — these help the body rebuild restoration resources. We start to recover. We start to get these resources. We start living in a new way. Moving is living — that is what my late grandfather used to say, walking around the city even beyond the age of seventy, shaking his legs, dancing a little, moving his arms, so that the body would not be frozen.
When you allow yourself movement, you begin to shake off everything that has piled up in your body. I feel that it is life at every next stage when I move. These dancing movements bring aesthetic pleasure to myself. When I dance, I feel something that cannot be fully put into words — clarity of mind and energy to move. Even my appetite for food is restored. That brings a lot of smiles. We heal through the experience of being heard, being seen, being accepted and forgiven.
We do not hide our cracks or our trauma. We see the value of life. Something that hurt us did not make us weak — it made us wiser and stronger. Survived pain becomes strength. So to move forward, to choose life consciously — I am very grateful to our trainers, who gently, without pressure, and with a great deal of respect, share how things could be different, how you can feel yourself, hear yourself, and build up resources for yourself and for others.
Q&A — Yuriy Trokhymenko
Iryna Hubeladze (Moderator): We have up to ten minutes for questions and comments for Yuriy. From your experience with retreats — what can be done at scale, spread as best practice, without the physical isolation of a micro-group retreat? What practices can veterans use in their daily life?
Yuriy Trokhymenko: Yes, the idea is that we cannot intellectualize this. At the level of the brain, the body has to adapt. This body has to change. We have to make sure the body is relaxed — for example, in a safe environment in the mountains. When the body gets relaxed, you can use it like a disc on which you are writing a new program. When the body is stressed, it closes itself — it does not absorb experiences. So we have to create conditions for the body to relax, and then write a new program into it. First of all, you have to explain to people how to accept their bodies, how to work with them, and then try reprogramming the bodies.
From the chat — Valeria asks: How do you recruit and select professionals to carry out your projects? How do you manage HR and recruiting for such programs?
Yuriy Trokhymenko: We started organizing retreats as a first attempt, and over the last years we have changed our approach and become more aware of how it should work. It is not easy, but we have developed methodological guidelines and a toolkit for how to recruit professionals and how to train them. The strategy is: announce a call for applications, and then provide training.
From the chat — question about funding:
Yuriy Trokhymenko: We are funded by international donors through grant funding. We have received two million [hryvnias] for recovery programs to help demobilized military service people recover and reintegrate. It is possible in principle for individuals to pay for themselves, but we have not had such experience yet. In the future, I believe it will be a mix — some veterans may be able to pay for themselves, and some will not.
Oxana (participant, raises hand): My name is Oxana. I am a wife of a military serviceman, and I am a mother of a son who is reported missing. It is terrifying not to know where he is. I have done so much to find him. I went to Donbas many times. I tried to reach the other side, the enemy's side, to find my son. I submitted all the certificates, reached out to everyone, went to the top. Twenty countries participate in negotiations to find missing persons, and my son is only twenty years old. It was so difficult for me. I could not break my cup — instead, I chose to paint it. My question is: do you have programs for mothers like me, perhaps through art therapy, to find peace?
Yuriy Trokhymenko: Yes, we have worked with women — one mother did not know where her son was for three years. Yes, we have had such experience. We try to help all human beings, because our neural system is universal. We try to create a very valuable inner resource, and you can continue carrying and using this resource. We cannot resolve all your life problems, but we can help you regain the strength to carry on.
From the chat — question about children:
Yuriy Trokhymenko: We do not work with children within the framework of these programs. We previously worked with children in the context of career and life-choice orientation, but not within this kind of retreat. There are other programs for children with different life experiences.
Presentation: Working with Male Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Vasyl Humeniuk Health and Humanitarian Advisor (Ukraine), All Survivors Project; Psychologist and Case Manager
Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my experience at this webinar. Exchanges between different experts, people with different experiences — this is extremely crucial for building our capacity.
Our organization is an international non-governmental organization focused on supporting men and boys who have been subjected to sexual violence. Our activity spans many countries — Syria, Afghanistan — and at the end of 2024 we began working in Ukraine.
Our purpose is to ensure consistent, sustainable access of victims to justice and healthcare services. Our approach is evidence-based and research-based. We conduct research on the needs and obstacles that men and boys who have been subjected to sexual violence and gender-based violence face.
I would like to tell you about our activities. We have conducted fourteen retreats together with survivor organizations, three sessions dedicated to psychological education, seven sessions of mutual assistance, and five sessions dedicated to physical and psychological rehabilitation. We have also provided individual consultations on request.
What can I say that would be of interest from our experience of working with survivors who have been in captivity?
We deal with significant consequences in the physical condition of these individuals — massive problems with physical health across multiple body systems, due to the very difficult conditions in which survivors were kept. This deteriorates their physical health significantly, and they raise this when we speak with them.
Post-traumatic stress disorder and many other mental health conditions emerge as a result of those conditions — being kept in inhumane circumstances. We can observe that their bodies triggered certain defense mechanisms, but the weakness and consequences of captivity greatly influence their ability to reintegrate and return to ordinary life.
Stigma: a lot of people have negative feelings about state authorities and state institutions. Many have had painful experiences — for example, being treated as suspicious at checkpoints. For many, a uniform, even one's own uniform, may work as a trigger. Interactions with law enforcement officials can cause re-traumatization. Survivors discuss this a great deal. We consistently raise this point with institutions, and the situation is improving — but it is far from perfect. There is still a great deal to do.
We deal also with the destruction of trust. As a result, some people choose to distance themselves from their community and environment. They may close off and exchange experiences only with each other. We can identify several barriers across different levels.
After years of captivity, people change dramatically. Their emotions become differently formed, and this influences the quality of relationships within their families. It is important to work not only with survivors, but also with families, because while they were waiting for their loved ones, they too experienced profound uncertainty — as Oxana described so powerfully. That experience requires attention. Survivors may feel a desire to distance themselves from the entire world, to avoid communicating with loved ones or family members. This can result in family breakups.
We must remember all of this when designing different forms of support. One retreat we conducted for survivors about two months ago received very positive feedback. Many clients afterwards reached out to psychologists for individual consultations. They said it would be extremely valuable if similar support were provided to families and children as well.
Stigmatization also occurs on the part of service providers — not only law enforcement authorities but also administrative service centers. Some people returning to their communities from captivity or from being wounded face difficult relationships with military enlistment offices and administrative centers. For someone who has been through captivity, the biggest fear is being at risk again — and that risk increases significantly if there are difficulties in communication with military enlistment offices and administrative centers.
Survivors often have what I would call a syndrome of helplessness. They may feel lost about where to go and what to do — a one-stop approach is very much needed. Some feel like newborns, their eyes still closed. One person said: when I was captured, phones were different. Now there is AI. Things are so different. Government agencies cannot provide for all their needs, or people do not know where to go. Trauma-informed communication needs to be promoted at every level — this healing communication, this culture of how to speak with survivors, needs to grow. We need to change how society communicates.
To summarize: the main needs that we must address for this group are physical safety and stabilization, medical assistance, psychological support, legal and administrative support, material support and employment, housing, and peer-to-peer support. Our organization organizes mutual-assistance meetings, and I want to underline that these meetings can be very therapeutic. Participants tell us that even by the end of a meeting, their mood has changed. There are no professional psychologists, no experts — they simply support each other. They have common experience, they understand each other, and they can see each other's blind spots in ways that specialists sometimes cannot.
Among the psychological challenges we most often see: anxiety about the future, anxiety about the course of the war, sleep difficulties, guilt, self-aggression, self-destructive behavior. The experience of sexual violence is stigmatizing in itself. Unfortunately, people blame themselves for this experience. They are very aggressive toward themselves and toward others. Only professional help can show them that it was not their fault, that it does not make them a lesser person. Difficulties with trust is a challenge that requires long-term interaction and communication-building.
How can we work with all of this? Wherever possible, we need to provide trauma-informed, gender-sensitive support. We need to support other institutions in adopting this approach. Safe contact without judgment — any organization working with survivors needs to learn this. Respect for boundaries, respect for time. The first weeks after exchange or release are a period of enormous pressure — journalists approach them, law enforcement wants to interview them. We need to build systems of interaction that help survivors understand the process and don't overwhelm them.
Support for families is essential. If the family is in a difficult psychological state, even the most skilled psychologist cannot help the survivor much, because the family will pull them back.
Q&A — Vasyl Humeniuk
From the chat — question about psychological support methods:
Vasyl Humeniuk: We have a team of psychologists specialized in trauma-informed approaches. Some work with cognitive behavioral therapy and trauma-informed approaches. It should be certified psychotherapists fluent in trauma-oriented work.
From a participant: You mentioned the taboo around these issues — society is not willing to raise them, and victims are not willing to seek help. How can we overcome this stigma and bring the issue out of the shadows?
Vasyl Humeniuk: This is very important. We start by building trust. We need to remember that people need to feel freedom of choice — the feeling that they can start talking, and that they choose about what. We can, of course, offer space. We avoid acting like journalists trying to pull out bloody details for social media. We go step by step. We raise topics that will remind the person of their experience indirectly, without going there directly. The person may not comment, may not say "this is my experience," but they will begin to process. If we tell them "it was not your fault," some people will reject it defensively at first — but this soft approach opens the door. Gradually, through psychotherapy, in a more controlled way, you get better results. First they understand: yes, this did happen to me. Then they begin to accept themselves. Self-criticism is very common — "I am weak, I allowed this to happen." But the circumstances were not their fault, and psychotherapy helps move through this.
Question: Do you provide training for those who work with survivors?
Vasyl Humeniuk: We interact with various organizations and we do psychoeducation for regional representatives. We are a relatively small organization, so we must choose priorities. But we are thinking about expanding in this direction.
Clarification from Iryna: I want to clarify — you are working with veterans, not only those still in service?
Vasyl Humeniuk: We work primarily with men and boys who have survived sexual and other trauma. About 95% would be civilians who survived captivity and this trauma, but we are not limited to military alone — active duty, veterans — all are within our scope.
Presentation: Helping Male Survivors of Sexual Gender-Based Violence — A Manual for Helpers
Doris Drews Specialist in Psychiatry; Chief Physician and Team Leader, Psychiatric Emergency Outpatient Clinic, Oslo; Co-Author, Mental Health and Human Rights Info (MHHRI)
(Introduction by Nora Sveaass and Elisabeth Langdal, MHHRI)
I am Doris Drews, a senior psychiatrist. I am currently head of an acute psychiatric crisis team in Oslo, and I work with Mental Health and Human Rights Info. I have worked with acute crisis and trauma for many years — and in recent years, increasingly with war and atrocities. Together with MHHRI, we have produced manuals about how to help helpers.
I think it is quite interesting that in your positions today, many of you may be simultaneously families, survivors, and helpers. Today I am honored to present the manual we developed — on helping male survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and how to provide psychosocial support.
Background and previous manuals
We started in 2014 with a manual directed mostly toward women in war zones and conflict zones — to support these groups. We also produced a manual for children and youth. Our most recent manual addresses men and boys, which we believed was a critically important gap.
Why this manual?
There are even more unreported cases when it comes to sexual violence against boys and men in general. Under-reporting for male sexual gender-based violence is very high, and even higher in conflict zones — often up to 90% compared to general settings. There are particular barriers to talking about sexual violence, shaped by cultural notions about masculinity, taboo, and shame. The role of men in many societies creates enormous pressure. Amnesty International's 2025 report, A Deafening Silence, details these points.
An International Red Cross report from 2022 titled This Never Happens Here summarizes how sexual and gender-based violence against men, boys, and minority groups, including LGBTQ+ persons, in humanitarian settings, is very underreported, overlooked, and rarely spoken about.
Men exposed to sexual violence in conflict are often more vulnerable to severe long-term consequences precisely because of their cultural role and background. Studies tell us that approximately 30 to 70% of male sexual violence survivors will develop PTSD, worsened by the stigma of seeking help, especially in military contexts.
Structure of the manual
The manual has four main chapters.
Chapter 1: Introduction and purpose. We have included five survivor stories — Louise, Ibrahim, Kumar, Ali, and Rodney — drawn from different parts of the world (Asia, the Middle East, Africa). These are partly drawn from actual survivors, and partly aggregated from our clinical experience. These are, in a meaningful way, true stories.
We use what I call therapeutic metaphors. We use the histories of trauma survivors to convey knowledge about trauma reactions. The meaning is that we tell these stories to helpers, and the helpers can then tell them — perhaps to a survivor they are working with. We do not ask the survivor: what did you live through? We tell them a story, and almost every survivor will find parallels to their own experience without being directly confronted with violent psychological images that might trigger flashbacks or overwhelming reliving.
Chapter 2: What is useful to know about trauma?
This chapter is particularly important for helpers. Everything you might see in your clients, you might also see in yourself.
Trauma originates from the Greek word for wound or damage — bodily wounds and mental wounds. Traumatizing events are shocking, overwhelming, life-threatening, and often involve witnessing events you cannot control.
Sexual and gender-based violence has its own particular place among trauma, because it attacks not only the body or the mind — it attacks sexuality and identity. It causes very often long-lasting psychological and physical harm, and is frequently combined with a general fear of injury or death in warzones.
Trauma reactions are survival strategies — this is very, very important to have in mind. The most well-known are fight, flight, and freeze (with sub-responses including playing dead and submission). During evolution, human beings had to develop these survival strategies: if something dangerous approaches, you try to fight back, you try to flee, or you freeze. These reactions are not consciously chosen — they are biological survival responses. We tell all our clients, and we tell helpers: these are normal responses to catastrophic situations.
When the body gets stressed and traumatized, it prepares for fight and flight — lungs pump more air, heart pumps more blood, muscles tense. Traumatization is not only fear and anxiety; the body is also reacting.
Common stress reactions include: in fight mode — anger, aggression, impulsivity; in freeze mode — inability to do anything, depression, spacing out, collapsing; in flight mode — anxiety, panic, avoidance.
The possible long-term effects are: depression, anxiety, drug abuse, alcoholism, self-harm, suicidality, and changed perception of the world based on automatic negative assumptions.
The most common symptoms seen in trauma are intrusions (flashbacks), avoidance, hyperarousal and over-reactivity, sleeping disturbances, and if someone has been in a warzone or disaster zone for a long time, a distorted understanding of the world — loss of trust, loss of a sense of security and control.
Chapter 3: Useful steps and tools.
Tips and tricks for how to meet a survivor; how to talk and communicate. We teach helpers the metaphor of the Window of Tolerance — a way to check whether you yourself are balanced enough to talk to a survivor, and where the survivor is in that balance. We teach what triggers are, and we teach grounding techniques — how to regulate the body. If you are able to calm the body, regulate the breathing, release the tension in the muscles, the mind will follow. A very irritated or aggressive survivor is often unreachable through words — but breathing exercises and grounding exercises can help.
We address sleeping disturbances — very common and very important — with guidance on why they occur and what can be done.
We also include a chapter on group work and role-play for helpers, using the five survivor stories as teaching cases. We address how to report and legal aspects — it is always voluntary, it cannot be forced. And finally: work with families and communities, because every survivor returns to a cultural background, network, and community that must embrace them. There must be understanding and communication.
Chapter 4: Helping the helper.
Because you — as a helper, as a family member — are an important tool, it is essential that you are not fading out or breaking down yourself. We teach warning signals for when it is becoming too much, how to recognize stress reactions in yourself, and how to take care of yourself. We use the oxygen mask analogy: on a plane, you take oxygen yourself first before helping others. The same principle applies here.
We also address the workplace — working conditions for crisis and rescue teams, and whether there is enough room to do good work as a helper.
At the end of the manual, you will find a toolbox of grounding exercises and a summary on the Window of Tolerance. These materials are also available as downloads in Ukrainian. The manual itself can be downloaded and viewed online. Anna has shared the links in the chat.
Q&A — Doris Drews
From the chat — what re-traumatizes victims most?
Doris Drews: Re-traumatization in its strict sense requires an almost life-threatening situation. But what we more often see is the activation of old traumas — being in similar situations, or encountering things that remind one of the trauma. This is what we call a trigger. I have worked with war survivors where sounds like gunshots, sirens, or seeing people in uniform can bring back memories — not just as mild reminders, but as full-blown reliving of the trauma. Everything that can remind you of the trauma — visual stimuli, sounds, smells — and even watching the news, where conflict zones are visible nightly, can bring it all back.
Question: How can a person cope with flashbacks?
Doris Drews: The first step is to identify what triggers you — sirens, sounds, smells. Then it is a learning process: grounding exercises help a person become aware, "I am not back in the warzone. I am at home. I am not in danger anymore." These are learning processes that take time, and often require trauma therapy.
Question: Can addressing basic problems like sleep help build trust? Is it important to keep emotional distance?
Doris Drews: It is very useful to work with the basics — for example, helping survivors sleep better. Regarding emotional distance: if someone is completely overwhelmed by flashbacks and reliving the trauma constantly, there is a need for some containment — but locking things away and cutting off does not help in the long run, because all the reminders and unprocessed traumas come back through the back door when you least expect them. There is no clear answer — it is a balance.
Iryna Hubeladze: Thank you, Doris. Participants can continue contacting Doris directly and via the chat. We will now take a fifteen-minute break. Please come back at 13:10 Ukrainian time, 12:10 Central European Time.
SESSION 2: Veterans' Voices — Choosing Life
Welcome to Session 2
Beate Seibt Professor of Social Psychology, University of Oslo; Leader, Solidarity Hub — Session 2 Moderator
Welcome to the second part of our webinar. This afternoon, we will hear from several veterans who have experienced trauma and healing and who will share their stories with us. We will hear from Olena Kasprovych, whom we already met in the video from Yuriy's presentation. Then we will hear from Oleksandr Batalov, Ambassador for Life, Veterans and Families Support Foundation, on rebuilding. Then we will hear from Nataliia Lishchyshena. And finally, we will have a wrap-up and next steps by Les Simm.
I also want to take this opportunity to invite you to answer our second round of the Delphi survey that we have started in connection with this webinar series. Last time, in Webinar 1 in April last year, we collected views from 29 experts on priorities for care for veterans in Ukraine and received very rich material — many fantastic proposals for solutions, which we have now collected into a survey of 54 solutions. We will send this out in our thank-you email to all of you. We would ask you to give your views on which measures should be installed in the next two years. In the final round, we will produce a more fine-grained analysis and choose our top measures to provide to policymakers as priorities determined by experts in the field.
Without further ado, let us start.
Presentation: Hardened by War — Reborn by Life
Olena Kasprovych Reserve Officer, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine; Combat Veteran; Facilitator of Recovery Programs for Women Veterans and Military Families
Hello, greetings to everyone. Thank you for inviting me to your forum. I am thankful for this opportunity. This shows real respect and attention to veterans, and that is very valuable to me.
I would like to highlight some of the issues I faced personally — and as experience demonstrates, this is common experience for many veterans, especially female veterans. We are a smaller percentage, but we are here, and our numbers continue to grow.
We have a full military family. I have been in the military since 2008. At that time, I wanted to be beautiful in uniform. I wanted to serve my country. My work began on Snake Island. I was stationed there; my husband was the chief of that station. That place will remain in my heart forever. Unfortunately, it has been largely destroyed by Russian aggression — but we need to move forward. We must move forward. We need to restore our nation.
During my service in an active area, something happened that sounds absurd: that period was both terrible and beautiful at the same time. I don't know how you can connect things that are not usually connected. Under conditions of danger and intense work, people show who they really are. You cannot play a role anymore. Your soul is naked. I met many great people, friends dedicated to their nation, ready to stand and fight.
But I am also a mother. I have three children. I could not understand how long the suffering would be for my children. I am a service person — I need to serve and defend my country — and when my children called and said, "Mom, we really need you," I felt terrible. That pressure and the insecurity at home caused a clinical state. I had PTSD. I had an anxiety disorder. I stopped tasting food — I ate, but felt nothing.
When I returned home, life was passing me by. I couldn't consciously understand what was happening. People were living their peaceful life, and I felt like an extra person — not a part of the whole vast life around me. Even my family could not understand me. The military experience creates a barrier. People who were part of peaceful life will never understand what is happening in the war zone. My parents could not understand me. My husband and I are in the same unit and share the same experience — at least we understood each other — but my parents did not, and I closed myself off. That is a big problem. We need to talk about this — we need to insist on opening up, because isolation will hurt you. There is a lot of data: every fifth veteran thinks about finding a way out through suicide. They may not commit suicide, but they think about it. And this isolation is destructive.
I don't know how it happened, but I heard about the restoration program — the retreat. I didn't want to go. But my psychiatrist insisted. And when I went — it was the mountain, it was the community, the circle of people with similar minds and fresh thoughts and fresh space — I felt: this is working. I started looking for ways to join such initiatives.
In Ukraine there is significant support from international donors and investors who are willing to invest. I am grateful for this understanding of our needs, because the government does not have the funds to implement all of these ideas and plans. Veteran policy is not just about psychological adaptation or reintegration into society — it is a question of rebuilding the entire functionality of veterans. You need to restore health, mind, and body; give people jobs; help with families. You cannot put everything on the government. These tree-and-restoration programs work. They help.
I am now at the stage of developing a resource program for restoring veterans, and AHALAR is my heart and my soul. They demonstrated qualities that are very important to me. I want to invest there. I want to give my colleagues — those who need to join restoration programs — the opportunity to do so. It is about the soul; it is about life; it is about the ability to say and to be heard without judgment. It is about sharing your pain and being understood and accepted.
Nature matters because it is about changing environment. Social media tends to focus on negative events and dwells on them. This causes secondary traumatization, whether consciously or not. We need to get away from that. We need to have joy — whatever is happening. Yes, there is a war. It is difficult for everyone. But I ask myself: I have children growing up. My older son is 17. If we are not giving enough effort now to stop the war, our children will have to fight in a few years. We need to build healthy mentality in our children — a worldview filtered through goodness, through the prism of a kind life.
(Pause — speaker becomes emotional when speaking about her children)
These mountain retreats, the work with specialists — when I compare it to other approaches, the AHALAR methodology really works. I don't know how to describe it fully. But when you accumulate information and the brain processes it, negative energy can be released through movement and through action. I am very grateful to the organizers for developing this methodology and for giving people the opportunity to feel who they are and to live through what we live through in the retreat.
Looking at the big picture, the issues that veterans face: what helped me most was not a particular insight or a single thought. For me — and I am an emotional person, I receive everything through my heart — there was a moment when I tasted life again. I want to live. I want to create. I want to do something. Compare that to the period when I came back from service — lying in bed, no strength to get up, unable to engage my children in normal everyday life. And then came the taste of life again.
These events must be organized. We need to tell everyone about them. Physical rehabilitation is important. Trauma is invisible — if your arm is amputated, you can see the injury, but if the soul is traumatized, nobody sees it. And yet the results are just as destructive as physical trauma.
(From the chat — question about psychiatry and stigma in Ukraine)
Yes, I worked with mental health practitioners and psychiatric professionals. For me, it was not a personal obstacle — but the stigma around psychiatric help in Ukraine is very strong. The psychiatric center is still seen as a mark of shame. We need to fight this. Psychiatric help should not be toxic; when a person has depression, it must be treated with medication. Medicine helped me regulate my condition at the beginning. I had side effects — I wanted to sleep, I had nausea — but once the antidepressants built up in my system, I noticed that in difficult situations, triggers that would normally send me into crisis, I felt calm. The numbness you experience at first — not tasting food, not feeling pleasure — gradually resolved as I worked with a psychiatrist. I regained my appetite and my desire for life.
To sum up: we invest in a normal future for our country, because a mentally healthy society is the foundation for everything. Only under such conditions can we make the right decisions, maintain political balance, and avoid turmoil.
What changed most for me in returning to ordinary life: I never had a civilian life. I went directly into military service after university. Uniform was me by essence. What changed is that I saw the world — I managed to see that there is life all around me, inside and outside. But I also encountered many challenges. As of now, I am unemployed. I am trying to transform my military experience into civilian life. The skills I learned in fulfilling combat tasks do not work the same way in civilian life. You need a different set of skills. When I was a child, I always thought about who I would like to become when I grew up. I am nearly forty and I am still thinking about it.
I want to share my experience working with veterans, to help my colleagues not go through all the cuts and bruises with bureaucracy that I went through. There are 1.5 million veterans in Ukraine now, and this number grows every day. I have been through the recovery stage. I know what works for me and what does not. I am willing to help others, because we were among the first to walk this path. We have knowledge. My activity will be focused on helping veterans to recover and reintegrate. That is the direction that will determine my development in the years to come.
Q&A — Olena Kasprovych
Beate Seibt (Moderator): Thank you so much, Olena. This is an amazing opportunity for us to have these conversations with people who have gone through it and to hear your personal voice on what has helped. It is very inspiring for all of us.
Presentation: Rebuilding Life — Psychological Resilience, Relationships, and Intimacy
Oleksandr Batalov Veteran with Titanium Prosthetic Leg; Ambassador for Life; Director, Veterans and Families Support Foundation "Unconquered"; Curator and Instructor, Project Changemakers; Lecturer, Course "Recovery and Sexual Life"
Hello, my name is Oleksandr Batalov. I am a veteran. I have had an amputation of my leg above the knee level. I went through extremely difficult conditions in life. I believe I received a second chance, and I believe we have to live it to the fullest.
I prepared this presentation as a series of talking points for what I want to mention.
Survival mode
In the period following a wound or traumatic experience, we get into survival mode. We experience this after wounding. We want to disconnect ourselves from this mode of survival, but even in the hospital — no longer on the battlefield — it is very exhausting. We have no energy, no emotions to carry on or respond to what is happening.
We have to find an objective for ourselves. When we move from the battlefield to the hospital, we must switch from combat readiness mode. In 2023 I was wounded and had my amputation, and this pushed me toward looking for the sense of life.
Accepting the injury
Before the war, I was a civilian. After the wounding, I realized I could not return to my previous work — I also have injury to my arm and hand. I had dedicated fifteen years to developing my professional skills, and I suddenly lost the ability to return to that.
The sooner you absorb your injury and your condition — the sooner you accept that you cannot relieve your past — the sooner you will start integrating into normal life around you. Otherwise you will keep fighting with yourself, thinking: I should have done this, I should have done that. No. What has already happened, happened. To realize your injury, your trauma, is a very starting point — a jumping-off point to the next stage of your life.
I underwent 15 surgeries and 12 anesthesias. I lost 27 kilograms of weight. I understood: I have to carry on. And I realized I had to reinvent the sense of my life. That is the foundation. If you understand where you are going, you have a path.
The body as key
It is extremely helpful to start understanding your body. When the doctor told me it was time to verticalize — to get up from my bed — it gave me such energy. I realized I would not just lie there. My body had changed dramatically. It was a different body, but I had to get used to it. That became a very strong incentive.
Yes, there is pain. Yes, there are obstacles. But you will be supported by friends and family, and it is your role and your task to keep taking small steps. Without overthinking it — you just move. You make a step. Maybe not everyone has friends and family nearby. Some come back to their community without close people around them. But they can become a source of inspiration for each other — combat brothers and sisters.
Once I started to feel my body and my emotions again, I understood where I wanted to orient myself. I started becoming more active with my prosthetic system, learning how to put more weight onto it, how to live with it. Even with one leg, you can still do this, this, and this. Make a choice. Even if you have to use crutches — make the choice.
Body as the key to inner balance
Injury embeds a great deal into your muscles and into your body. You have to realize that you must reprogram your body entirely. A new physical load will develop understanding of new limits, new skills, and new behaviors. For an individual, it is important to learn how to live with your new body. You have to accept it, you have to adapt, and you have to learn. Modern technologies allow receiving support that can help you climb mountains. I was invited to a conference at the US State Department. I went there on crutches, with one leg. The impact was enormous — far more impactful than I could have imagined.
Keep the discipline of physical activity: schedule your day, sleep when you sleep, eat, do physical activity, and relax. Change is possible. We can become different persons in some ways, but inside, we remain the same. Reputation and respect for that inner continuity matter a great deal.
We can be overwhelmed — unable to embrace everything that happens from the combat position to the emergency room to rehabilitation. What helps is working with a psychologist and sharing experiences with peers, with others who have been wounded at the same stage of life. It helps an individual realize: there is no time only to suffer. It is time to get back, to recreate your life.
Adaptive sport
If you have difficulty, find the inner strength and go to adaptive sport. You will find like-minded people with similar challenges and bodily injuries. Playing ball and different sporting games became a huge driver for me — I was in a group of people with even more complex injuries, and we realized we are the source of treatment for each other. We are treating each other by being there.
I participated in training events and competitions in the United States — Marine Corps and Air Force trials. Adaptive sports can help you discover your new self. I could never have imagined that with one leg I would go to the United States to compete.
Relationships and intimacy
War transforms a human being significantly. What is important is to realize and embrace your experience. When we come back from such experiences, we all behave like hedgehogs — we do not let anyone enter our territory.
After amputation, blood circulation becomes an issue. And when you are in acute pain, you don't think about intimacy. You go through all the stages — and there may be moments when you think: maybe I should end this, I cannot carry on through so much pain and suffering. You go through all the perceptions and attitudes. And then, only sometime later, you are able to have a very honest conversation with your partner. You say: here I am. It is up to us how we continue. You may need a psychologist or sexologist. There may be physical or psychological trauma. What you need is honest dialogue with your partner.
There should be honesty in your relationships. Do not hide anything. The more you hide, the more challenging it becomes. If you feel shame, find a specialist who can talk to you and to your partner together. Either this will strengthen your relationship, or it will not hold. But the dialogue is the key.
And intimacy after trauma — exploring your new body — you and your partner have to be open about what is most comfortable. My wife once told me: you have such a soul. Yes, I understand — this is just a new form of life, a new form of physical appearance. So much nuance arises and you become more attentive to each other.
Role of community
We have to create an environment. There are many virtual veteran communities and spaces, many different things that enable you to discover you are not alone. There are many solutions. But if you don't exchange your experience with other people, you don't know what's possible. When you create a community of like-minded people or people with similar experiences, you can change so much, and you can become so much more productive.
I believe retreats in the mountains should be organized by the state from the very beginning of demobilization. When you go to such a retreat, you need to feel a safe space. It is the foundation.
We also need to show that sexual rehabilitation matters. We are working through the Ministry of Healthcare to change the methodology for how to work with veterans with specific injuries — because they need to be informed honestly about what they are likely to encounter. There are things that require more attention, and this must be part of care.
Life has great skills and experience. But you have to demonstrate to yourself and the world that you are strong and capable. Spring has come. You have to embrace your experience and look at children running around, women smiling, men who are proud to live in our country. To suffer is easy. To take tools into your hands and become an active creator of your own life — that is much more difficult. But so much more rewarding.
Q&A — Oleksandr Batalov
Question from Iryna Hubeladze (translated from Ukrainian chat): Should we introduce mandatory psychological assistance to veterans completing their service? Many people believe they do not need it, and we are losing them.
Oleksandr Batalov: Yes — "obligatory" sounds difficult, because people may do it just to tick the box. But what I think would be appropriate is that when soldiers transition out of service, they go to a camp — with their combat brothers and sisters — where they go through an adaptation period to accept themselves in this civilian life. And psychologists should come to them, not as enforcers but as well-trained professionals who are aware of all these subtle nuances.
Natalia (raises hand): I know you, Alexander, and I have been following your activities closely. I am very happy that you don't stop where you are. We have been through many things together. You are a very good role model, showing the entire world that life does not stop.
Oleksandr Batalov: Thank you, of course.
From the chat — Beate Seibt: Was there a feeling of revenge — a desire to avenge your injury on someone?
Oleksandr Batalov: Anger and revenge destroy you from the inside. When I joined the army, I served my country, my nation. What happened to me is a fact of military service and the risk associated with it. Revenge is destructive. If you have no one to address it toward, it eats you from the inside. I understand it is my duty, and it is my risk, and I am responsible for my life.
From Natalia Chikina (raises hand): Thank you for your presentation. I would like to stress the importance of working with couples. If you give advice to an individual, it is helpful — but you should address the couple. Maybe you can give advice on what a couple should pay attention to, especially when working with wives or girlfriends? Women experience anxiety, but the body remembers. When your wife said "you are the same, I love you" — because her body remembers the body you had before. The domain of sexual recovery and rehabilitation, working with couples, needs to become more widespread.
Oleksandr Batalov: Yes, and not always can relationships continue — and this is also normal. It was wrong to say that you simply have to be together through everything. The domain of sexual recovery and rehabilitation is becoming more and more recognized, and I hope it continues to grow.
From the chat — question about military personnel who complete medical rehabilitation but relapse into drug use because no psychological support was included:
Oleksandr Batalov: This is exactly what I meant when I said the rehabilitation protocol must include both. Doctors prescribe painkillers or other substances, and then the question is how to move away from them. It is important to provide support, because otherwise, when a person is alone, there is a danger of suicide. They don't know where to go, they think life is over — it is temporary but they want to end it by their own hand. There must be support, there must be community, and there must be a clear treatment protocol: if you gave someone a pain-controlling drug, you must have a plan to bring them back to normalcy.
Presentation: From Frontline to Civilian Life — Ukrainian Women Veterans Fighting for Systemic Change
Nataliia Lishchyshena Veteran, Air Assault Forces; Specialist in Support for Veterans and Demobilized Service Members; Military Lawyer; Member, Veteran Women's Movement VETERANKA; Participant, Project "Tribe" by Amnesty International Ukraine
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Let me introduce myself. I am a veteran. I also have an amputation — caused by inadequate military equipment — and I also have a tumor due to inadequate military equipment. I am a military lawyer. I help veterans and the families of fallen soldiers. I am also part of the female veteran movement for women in service or post-service.
My trauma came from the body armor, which is designed for men. This caused pressure, and I was brought to a medical center and later a cancer center. I had three surgeries and lost a breast through complete mastectomy. I was the first veteran willing to share this story publicly. We have been at war for years, and our women are traumatized every day because we don't have proper equipment. There was a lot of hate in response to my going public, but also a great deal of support, and there have been changes. There is now a new program for reconstructive surgery for women who lost breasts due to trauma or inadequate equipment. Until recently, women had to pay for these surgeries themselves.
Women in the military
Women have not been in the military because we were graciously allowed — we were fighting alongside men, and we continue to fight. The story started when women began to protect our nation, standing shoulder to shoulder with men. Many of them, including the co-founder of our movement, were fighting at the front in Luhansk. Yet she was recorded in documents as a seamstress — even though she was on the frontline. For a long time, her wartime duty was not officially verified. There was a long battle to confirm that women were actually at the battlefield and deserved benefits.
Girls were fighting, but were registered in the military as telephone operators or seamstresses — not in combat positions. Until 2018, combat positions were completely closed to women officially. To correct this, the female veteran movement coordinated with the government. Finally, 363 various services were opened for women, and when wounded, women began to be registered as combat wounded rather than as cooks or seamstresses.
We still have many problems to fight regarding women in the military. There is discrimination and bias. Our needs were completely ignored. We didn't have female uniforms, we didn't have proper body armor, nothing was prepared for women — everything was designed for men. Even knee pads are designed for men and don't fit us properly. We are smaller in height; pads don't fulfill their function for us.
Since 2014, the number of women fighting has increased significantly. Based on the latest data — January 2026 — there are 125,000 women serving. No other military in the world has such a proportion of women at the front line. We finally got a female uniform — but only for summer. Winter uniform is not there. Boots and everything else must be paid for by women themselves or provided by volunteer organizations. Funding comes mainly from abroad. The Ukrainian military announced proudly that they had finally registered a female body armor in documents, but it has never been introduced into actual use.
I keep receiving messages from women in uniform saying my troubles are true for them as well. This will remain a problem during wartime and after the war. We are now gathering statistics on prosthetics that women need — and the numbers are overwhelming. 90% of women have problems. These are shocking numbers. We keep getting traumatized every time we wear inadequate body armor — and this is a huge problem for the future.
We are also dealing with gender pressure and sexual attacks against women in the military. Our decision as the female veteran movement was to petition the government. Our chairperson launched a campaign. We fought to change the disciplinary statutes. It took us two years to pass Law 1337, amending the disciplinary statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Women became legally protected against sexual attacks. This document forces commanders to respond to such incidents of discrimination and sexual attacks, and allows for military investigations to support women who report such behavior.
After service
After the start of full-scale invasion, I had to be relieved from my assault battalion. It was very difficult to get my documents to properly reflect my situation — I was the first woman to have full amputation in a military hospital, not in a cancer hospital. The first thing the doctor said was: "I need to talk to your husband, because I need to make sure you have family support. I have seen families fall apart over this." I am thankful to my husband — he is a former military man and has been through so much himself — he supported me enormously.
Rehabilitation is not even routinely scheduled for those who go through amputations. Most support comes from peer supporters and from organizations. Peer-to-peer support is so important.
Last year, after my last operation, I was finally brave enough to go to the Compass of Heroes retreat. The retreat helped me enormously. I was restricted in my physical effort because of pain in my upper body — but I could go with the group to the mountains, not as fast as others, but I could go and be there for the sunrise. No one looked at me as a cripple. Everyone treated the situation as completely normal. There was a huge amount of support from the therapists, and from the natural environment, and from the circle of friends. Another retreat participant who had survived captivity shared her life story with me. Her suffering had been much greater than mine, and she had moved forward. She gave me life.
Now I work with VETERANKA and Amnesty International Ukraine, where I study and protect veterans' rights. Together we organize many events to socialize and integrate veterans — men and women — to give them the opportunity to feel needed in today's society.
We have more than 3,000 women in our union, with regional offices now. This community gives support to everyone who needs it. There are many programs and retreats available. The Compass of Heroes retreat was where I understood: I am also a hero. After this terrible situation — which is very hard for a woman — I started sharing it. I wasn't sure I should tell this story. But my husband said: if your story can save at least one woman fighting for us, that would be worth it. And I agreed, and I began giving interviews to Ukrainian and international media.
Our people — veterans and their families — should not be beggars in the country. They should be protected. I will keep doing this work together with those who help people regain calm and tranquility. I should show by my own example that life does not end. I succeeded, and you can succeed too.
(From the chat — questions about body armor for women and whether she plans to enter politics)
Nataliia Lishchyshena: Regarding body armor: there is a certified model, certified type, that has not yet been introduced into actual use. The risk of not producing adapted bulletproof vests for women — especially for women medics and doctors, who suffer the most of all groups of women in the army — we are making changes to the state program. It is not about plastic surgery. It is about minimizing harm.
As for politics: I have not thought about it specifically, but I cooperate with many international organizations. As a lawyer, I encounter so many issues unique to our country — things that in European countries were not common — and these subjects attract enormous interest from researchers.
I want to thank you for being invited to speak at this conference. I am nervous, but I appreciate this attention and this opportunity. I know that our voice matters — whenever we have managed to get the state to increase some programs, it is because they listened to our input.
Wrap-Up and Next Steps
Les Simm International Forum for Understanding (IFOUND), Cambridge
Thank you everyone for a fantastic session.
I would like to start by saying that we are here today, not just to talk about trauma, but to affirm together that recovery is possible.
Thank you for all being here and for staying with us through what has been a genuinely powerful day. What you have heard has been moving, challenging, and important. I would like us to honor the weight of that before we close.
I want to say personally: it is a privilege to be trusted with the insights shared here by everyone involved in this webinar. I do not take that lightly. As a veteran myself — thirty years of military service, five years in the Medical Corps where I trained as a psychiatric nurse, then 35 years in specialist operations units — I understand the meaning of carrying these experiences, as do my family and friends. I am with what you are going through. I hear what you are saying, and the personal connection today makes it all the more significant.
I was also honored to be in Ukraine on the 24th of February — the sad anniversary of the start of the fifth year of the war. I was there as part of an initiative to bring physiotherapists from the UK to support Ukrainian-led physiotherapy programs. What came through very clearly from every practitioner, both British and Ukrainian, was the inseparable link between physical and mental wellbeing. These two things cannot be treated in isolation. And as I know from my own experience, the mind can sometimes take longer to heal than the body.
I would also like to acknowledge that we have here a genuinely international initiative — Ukraine, Norway, UK, and others. That solidarity is not incidental. It is itself part of the answer.
Reflections on Session 1
What comes through heavily is: trauma is complex, but it is not the end of the story. Sometimes the most therapeutic thing we can offer is simply our presence and attention. I would like to acknowledge the experience Oxana shared about her son — mirrored across Ukraine and other combat zones. That is a horrendous experience, and we see you; we hear you.
From Yuriy: this is not magic, it is biology. Let us remember that. And the words from Elena's grandfather, echoed by Elena herself: moving is living. That brings us back to the core message — choosing life, the physiology of life, and joy. Let's hold onto that word.
From Vasyl: individual healing cannot happen in an unsuitable system. We cannot ask people to recover in isolation if the structures around them are not suitable for that purpose. His call for trauma-informed communication at a national policy level is not a small thing — it is a fundamental shift in how we think about this work.
From Doris and MHHRI: the work on sexual violence against men — a particularly difficult subject — is a credit to everyone here that we are addressing it directly. The manual represents a practical and meaningful contribution. It says, in effect: we see you, we believe you, and we can help. Recognizing male survivorship is not a minor concern — it is a rights imperative.
Reflections on Session 2
Choosing life is active, daily, and deeply personal. And it does not happen alone.
From Olena — hardened by war, reborn by life, mother of three children. I think that title alone has a world of meaning. There is a paradox in it: war hardens a person, and yet something entirely new can be born from that hardness. That is not a contradiction. That is resilience. And I identify that in my own military and post-military experience in this field.
What several speakers described is not the erasure of the past, but transformation of it. Not forgetting what happened, but finding a way to live beyond it. Rebuilding functionality, joy, addressing re-traumatization — all of it needs to be addressed.
From Oleksandr — an amazing person doing a great deal not only for himself but for the broader veteran community. He had the courage to address things that are often taboo among veterans: intimacy and relationships. That courage should be recognized, both in what he is doing and in the people he works with. Psychological resilience is not just something that happens to an individual — it lives in the connections between people and in the quality of relationships, in whether we feel seen and valued.
And families are not bystanders to recovery. They are co-survivors. They carry this weight. They deserve the same level of support.
One thing Oleksandr said that struck me particularly, in response to the question about anger and revenge: anger and revenge destroy you. In the military, there are things you are asked to do that the normal person is never asked to do. And once you have done that, there is no coming back from it in the same way. But if you let that eat you, that is what you become. It was a very key point.
From Natalia — her presentation reminds us, and reminds the world, that women veterans face a double battle: once on the frontline, and again when they come home, having to fight to be recognized, supported, and heard. That should not be the case. In particular, there is no place for sexual violence in any organization or any society. The work is a direct challenge to systems that have failed to catch up with reality. Veteran is not a gendered word, and our support systems must reflect that.
Cross-cutting themes
Agency and dignity: Recovery must be done with people, not to them. That means honoring voice, pace, and choices.
Stigma as a barrier: Whether it is PTSD, sexual gender-based violence, or simply the act of asking for help — stigma costs lives. Let us be clear: it operates like a battlefield weapon. It must be actively and deliberately dismantled. This is work for all of us.
Whole-family thinking: Secondary trauma in partners and children is real and serious. Any support system that sees only the veteran is missing half the picture, and potentially making things worse for everyone.
Community as medicine: Peer support, recognition, and belonging are not soft extras or nice-to-haves. They are core to healing. Community is medicine. And from the community grows the country.
The knowledge is here: Practitioners, veterans, researchers, NGOs — in this room and internationally. What we must now do is ask ourselves: what can I do that I am not doing? Think of one thing you can do.
I would like to acknowledge the network of all those organizing and the partners — you know who you are. I want to thank our moderators, Iryna and Beate, who held this space with real skill and sensitivity. It is very difficult when questions are flowing as they were today. Our interpreters did an extraordinary job — simultaneous translation between English and Ukrainian is no small feat, and it means that more voices can be heard, and more people can participate. That inclusion matters. Every practitioner, every participant, every person who joined today: your presence sends a signal that this work matters.
This is not an endpoint. It is one step in an ongoing commitment that we will sustain. It is the second webinar in our series. The first was on connecting and healing — veterans, family, and community — because that is how we view things: everyone is a part of everything else. We will be continuing, so please watch for our future events and details of how to stay connected with the whole network. Take what you heard today back into your organizations, share it, and use it. Most importantly — act on it. It is no good on a shelf. As everyone today has said: get up, move, and do something.
Advocate for veterans and families in your communities. We will be sharing follow-up resources, including Doris's MHHRI materials and information on VETERANKA. We will also send an email to everyone with various links so you can view this webinar again and share it as widely as possible. This is an open network for people to engage with.
In closing: today we heard from people who refused to let war have the final word. Veterans and families across Ukraine are doing the hard work of choosing life — often without enough support or recognition. Our job, as researchers, practitioners, funders, or advocates, is to make sure that this choice is possible for everyone who wants to make it.
I would also like to acknowledge that the war in Ukraine has touched every member of the community in some way, including those who have been forced to leave their families, homes, and country. The diaspora carries this weight. I am working with some of those communities in the UK, and I know others here are doing the same elsewhere. They are part of this experience, and they must be part of the response.
Thank you everyone for being part of this work. I look forward to engaging with you — as do all our partners and participants — in the future. Thank you very much.