After reading Mrs Zelenska’s recent comments on the mental health of kids (and adults) in Ukraine and the scale of the damage to Ukraine’s education system I went to take a look at how well they’re coping, in so far as they can.
Unsurprisingly, Ukraine has been busy and is already applying approaches that work. For example, Ukraine has opened over 100 play therapy locations to help traumatised children recover, which is an excellent strategy. In addition, Libraries without Frontiers has been visiting some schools with mobile library media centres, which makes for very lively events and generates lots of enthusiasm. Another initiative for young people, Plus-1-a, has set up an online exhibition celebrating fallen war heroes among a range of activities.
Video of play therapy in use in Ukraine.
Clearly, and as usual, Ukraine are getting on with delivering the best education and mental health support they can lay their hands on. However, many children in Ukraine will at some stage need the support of medical health professionals delivering specific clinical therapies. Equally, just how many depends on what can be done now to offer mental health first aid which can’t replace medical treatment but may help to stop things worse.
Providing support in general to Ukraine will definitely help, as helping carers helps kids even if the cash doesn’t arrive as a parcel of toys at a child’s bomb shelter. Some people can send old mobile phones, others might buy a HIMARS off Kickstarter with a slice going to Ukraine – it doesn’t matter how we contribute so much as taking the time to chip in as best we can.
A Further Option
There is also an option Ukraine or Ukrainian schools can try easily at no cost on Flickr or for pennies on a website such as wordpress.com, which addresses both learning skills and mental health support. Simply offer shareable and largely downloadable sets of posters/ memes/ images/ collectible cards/ activities that use tried and tested approaches to reach out to kids/ into young people’s homes. Effectively offer a digital library / gallery/ museum for Ukraine’s kids that can be stored and viewed on a mobile without a connection or shared into feeds on a range of social media.
I have an example of a digital library which has already been used with lots of students and large groups of young people on social media. Some of the collection and associated learning outcomes may suit Ukraine, other options could be added to suit needs, taste and culture. The main thing is that more kids can be reached and invited out of isolation using materials they are likely to enjoy and select from. (With traumatised kids an educational psychologist and a librarian would usually be involved in selecting media).
The galleries/ bookshelves included in my ‘library’ are intended to help with the mental health related learning outcomes listed under each set of titles:
Climate by Brenna Quinlan and Climate
Modelling solutions — focused narratives
Stand with Ukraine and Iranian Women of Graphic Design
Manageable access to shared experiences of conflict
Story Cards/ Prompts and Wildheart
Learning to build and value personal narratives
Resist, Wildheart and Memes
Agency through participation
Protocols from XR, Quotes and Cage the Rage (See Flickr)
Exploring ethics and self-appraisal
Dynamics and Whisper
Art (galleries) for all
Kali
Diversifying representations of women
History (Archaeology and Materials History) and Kali
Fostering authentic identities/ Fact over fiction
Mental Health by Brenna Quinlan
Climate anxiety
The library/ galleries are linked below with more images on Color the Sky to take account of licensing:
Color the Sky
Flickr
Sources
Brenna Quinlan
Creatives for Ukraine
Designious
Iranian Women of Graphic Design
Olka Kostenko
Pixabay
Stand with Ukraine
Tithi Luadthong via Adobe Stock
Unsplash
Sourcing
If you fancy having a go at making your own ‘library’ for whatever purpose image copyright is usually held by the artists and various uses allowed under license.
- Creatives for Ukraine, Iranian Women of Graphic Design and Stand with Ukraine make their images available for download for non-commercial use.
- Unsplash and Pixabay have licensing but so long as you’re not reselling the images the license terms are very accommodating.
- Creative Market and Adobe stock are quite inexpensive but have stricter licensing which may limit use to a single channel/ purchase and limit distribution. (All galleries don’t have to be downloadable).
I have paid less to build a colourful collection as a result of making quite a lot of the art myself. However, a few hundred on stock would have arrived at much the same result years faster. Some topics have exactly what you’re after simply for free, for example if you fancied a BLM gallery head straight over to Unsplash. Resizing pics can be tiresome so maybe find a desktop machine and decide on a shape, large or small, to stick to – I should have :)
Pump up the volume
As it happens another Ukrainian site has an example of how to make a digital library work on steroids, which is much like DK’s social media group site which rapidly distributes petitions.
Kids who have or are falling into silence
They will need a lot of help from psychologists and/or psychiatrists but there are maybe some instant options worth considering. For example:
“As soon as they get here, we give them a buddy, another student, who supports them all day long,” says Atwal. “Everyone wants to volunteer. If they walk into a classroom and children are fighting to look after them; they love that.”
Uphall employs an emotional literacy adviser, who helps children who may have suffered trauma. If a child does not speak much English the adviser will use picture cards showing an angry face and ask: “Do you ever feel like this?”
Atwal emphasises that each child needs to be treated as an individual. Some will be very quiet at first, taking it all in, “but that doesn’t mean they don’t feel safe”.’