Support First Aid of the Soul for Ukraine

Dear Friends,

We are First Aid of the Soul (FAS), a collective of professionally trained mental health providers from the USA and across Europe dedicated to delivering accessible psychosocial and emotional support services through multi-faceted approaches, and a holistic trauma-focused lens to individuals affected by the war in Ukraine. Our vision is to restore dignity, belonging, and well-being to the soul of Ukraine.

On February 25, 2022, the day after the full-scale invasion of Russia's war against Ukraine, our Founder and Executive Director Nathalie Robelot sent out a call of action within her various networks and communities of mental health professionals. The call to action invited friends and fellow colleagues and experts in the field to offer free psychosocial and emotional support services to those being affected by Russia's war against Ukraine. In less than one week Nathalie received an outstanding amount of responses, over 450 volunteers being professionally trained mental health providers signed up to help support Ukraine with their expertise.

In the last several months, First Aid of the Soul (FAS) has established its core team, a group of volunteer mental health professionals trained at leading universities from around the globe specializing in a variety of trauma-focused therapeutic methods - embodied approaches (i.e., mindfulness, trauma-sensitive yoga, grounding), expressive art therapies (i.e., art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, etc.), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and crisis intervention strategies (i.e., psychological first aid specialists, trauma response methods, etc.). This highly experienced team is developing a comprehensive support infrastructure in a safe and confidential manner. FAS has done this by offering free-of-charge virtual support services in the following ways:

1) Wellness Drop-ins: Weekly virtual support groups (offered to staff, caregivers/parents, and teens) for an international school in Kyiv with over 252 staff international and local (Ukrainian) and with 539 students from over 50 countries. Compassion Care Groups: Support groups for various networks (over 1600 members) of psychotherapists and volunteers in Ukraine.

2) Supervision and Mentorship: Ongoing virtual supervision groups as well as mentorship to Ukrainian psychotherapists (serving over 35 participants) working on the frontlines in Ukraine with displaced people.

3) Trainings and Workshops: Regular trainings with consecutive and simultaneous translation from English to Ukrainian to provide support and guidance in trauma-centric care. Some examples include trauma-sensitive yoga (with breathing and grounding techniques for regulation), safety structures when working with trauma, expressive arts interventions for working with ongoing trauma, EMDR methods (resourcing and grounding), psychological first aid for certification, griefwork with children and teens, foundations of expressive art therapies, burnout prevention series, working with survivors of sexual violence and vicarious trauma, and more to come. Moreover, our services have been shared across networks (via social media channels such as Facebook pages and groups, Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, Linkedin, and Email) of professionals reaching over 10,000 individuals supporting Ukraine, and have served over 800 individuals within the last five months.

4) Self-Help Kits for Adults, Caregivers, and Mental Health Professionals: Published in three languages (Ukrainian, English, and Russian) that are accessible and downloadable PDF online on our website and disseminated through social media. You may find them here.

We plan to continue offering regular trainings, workshops, supervision, and support groups for frontline responders (volunteers and psychotherapists) working in shelters, hospitals, and centers with displaced people in Ukraine (those being affected by the war in Ukraine in need of mental health support). We also aim to continue extending our services to support displaced people in and outside of Ukraine in order to reach a larger community through partnerships with other organizations that coincide with our mission.

FAS is funded through private donations from friends, colleagues, and family mostly. All of our team members have been volunteering their efforts since February 25, 2022. Although we are a not-for-profit, we are pending approval for tax exemption as a registered 501c3. Moreover, once we are approved we will be eligible to apply for various grant and sponsorship opportunities in hopes of extending our efforts full-time for up to 3 years.

FAS would greatly appreciate anything you are able to give at this time, to help support our efforts in offering free psychosocial and emotional support services. FAS will raise funds in order to maintain and continue building a safe and confidential infrastructure of implementing its services, maintain operational expenses, and employ up to three to four full-time staff members (admin, interpreters, directors, etc.) to continue managing as well as extending our services to those who need it most!

Thank you so much for your time, support, and kind consideration.

With gratitude,

FAS Team