The sessions are held at health centres in the Carpathians and last three weeks each. Since the autumn of 2022, five sessions have been held with the support of Saving Lives, and the next one is scheduled for July this year.
During the four shifts, Metinvest employees, wives and children of the company's employees who were under occupation, lost family members, fled their homes or suffered psychological trauma as a result of their war experiences, took part in the programme.
And during the last session in June, the Saving Lives project expanded the assistance: from now on, residents of Ukrainian cities where Metinvest operates - Zaporizhzhia, Kamianske, Kryvyi Rih, Pokrovsk and others - can also restore their mental health.
Liubov, participant of the Unbreakable Mom programme, Zaporizhzhia region:
- I work in a social service. When the war broke out, we started delivering humanitarian aid: we helped the local community a lot, supported IDPs. It was very hard at work, I was constantly feeling tense and stressed. In the end, I just burned out. I had no desire to live. Everything irritated me, I started to hate people, I displaced my anger on to my children. I was offered to join the Unbreakable Mom programme in Pavlivka village council. I was happy to work with the psychologists because I felt better. During these three weeks, I started smiling again. I changed, became an open person. My relationship with my husband and children has strengthened: we have become a real family. I am very grateful to Metinvest, the Pavlivka community, psychologists and everyone involved in the Unbreakable Mom programme. The project is extremely important: you support mothers and save families.
The programme is aimed at working with people who have been under occupation, lost a loved one, left their homes, become victims or witnesses of war crimes, or have psychological disorders due to the war. Local administrations decide which residents of the regions where Metinvest operates should be included in the programme.
Tetiana Petruk, Director on Sustainable Development and People Management of Metinvest Group:
- The mission of the Saving Lives project is to physically and psychologically restore people to build the future. To build the future, you need to take care of yourself right now, to find the internal resources that the war depletes. As promised, we are gradually expanding the scope of the Unbreakable Mom programme. From now on, not only Metinvest employees, but also women and children affected by the war in the regions where the company operates can get help from psychologists. We are also developing other formats of psychological assistance in the regions where our businesses operate so that as many people as possible can benefit from it.
Throughout the sessions, mothers and children were treated according to a separate schedule: group and individual consultations with psychologists, educational classes on family psychology, body therapy and art workshops, excursions and hiking trips were organised.
Olga Koptieva, methodologist at the Unbreakable Mom project:
- With every month of the war, the level of trauma with which women and children come to Unbreakable Mom is, unfortunately, getting deeper. The PTSD is gaining momentum rapidly. More and more often, women who have lost loved ones in the war come to us. And if the mother is in a serious condition, so are the children. The programme is developed to work with both more stable women and children, and with very difficult cases. During the latest sessions, we have added more body therapy classes for adults and started to conduct them for teenagers. And body therapy allows traumatic symptoms to be transformed.
The Saving Lives initiative was created by Metinvest Group in coordination with Rinat Akhmetov Foundation at the beginning of the russian invasion of Ukraine. For more than 15 months of the full-scale war, the project has helped almost 500 thousand people in 70 territorial communities. Ukrainians have received more than 4,200 tons of foodstuffs and hygiene products, and hospitals have received medicines, consumables, and equipment worth €250,000.
The project involved nearly 200 companies from around the world, 400 volunteers and 10 foundations and public organisations. For more than a year of its activities, the amount of assistance from donors has exceeded €2.7 million.
Saving Lives' main areas of activity include prosthetics and rehabilitation of the military and civilians, as well as psychological recovery of women and children.