Balm Amidst the Bombs

"A museum in Ukraine is pioneering a new role for such a cultural institution: emergency psychological support. Ukraine's National War Museum, established in Kyiv when Russia invaded the country in 2014, is not only the first to document a war in real time but to offer psychological services to individuals living with the daily threat of bombs and drones and the reality of lost loved ones and destroyed homes."

"The museum deploys teams of historians, archivists, photographers, videographers, psychologists, and local field specialists to liberated areas, often arriving only hours after fighting ends. "We have to move quickly," says Deputy Director Dmytro Hainetdinov. "After a few days, evidence is gone: cleared, buried, burned, or blown away." In addition to salvaging the country's heritage, the museum-whose teams have operated in 35 areas to date-records accounts of survival."

"As museum workers create exhibits of bombed homes, destroyed villages, and churches reduced to shells, teams of psychologists build emotional recovery, so far helping more than 700 children, wounded soldiers and their families, individuals released from captivity, and those scarred by living in frontline or near-frontline areas. Teams apply the BASIC PH model of recovery originally developed by Israeli psychologist Mooli Lahad. It promotes natural coping skills in the wake of trauma by incorporating creative activities. The work is built around three basic components."

Ukraine's National War Museum, founded in Kyiv after Russia's 2014 invasion, documents the current war in real time and gathers evidence rapidly in liberated areas. Teams of historians, archivists, photographers, videographers, psychologists and field specialists reach sites often within hours to salvage heritage and record accounts of survival. The museum preserves physical remains of bombed homes and ruined churches while also providing emergency psychological support. Psychologists have helped more than 700 children, wounded soldiers, released detainees, and frontline residents using the BASIC PH model and creativity-based activities to restore coping skills and foster emotional recovery.

Read at Psychology Today