The new project «Strengthening Psychosocial Resilience for War-Affected Children and Youth in Southern Ukraine» has kicked off

The large-scale initiative will span the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, focusing on equipping people in frontline territories with the tools they need for mental health recovery.

«Our goal is to help children, their parents, and caregivers in regions so close to the contact line to cope with the consequences of war trauma, improve their psychological well-being, and ensure access to professional protection», says Roman Haida, Project Manager.

As part of the project, the first training for specialists has already taken place. It was an intensive training on the RESET methodology, covering psychologists, speech therapists, and social workers from Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson. RESET was developed by psychologist Kirsten Callesen, co-founder of Mission10forty, drawing on decades of experience in helping traumatized children. This marks the first time such training has been conducted in Ukraine.

Participants examined how the brain functions and how emotional reactions are formed, while mastering the RESET methodology to restore inner resources. They learned to work with traumatic experiences in both children and adults and explored Cat Kit tools – a visual language that helps to better understand and process emotions, supporting a child’s recovery process.

Notably, the specialists who completed the training will soon become RESET trainers themselves, passing on this knowledge and scaling up support for children and adults through a cascading approach.

«About a quarter of all children and young people under the age of 18 in Ukraine are at risk of serious psychological consequences of the war and may need psychosocial support. That is why such training for professionals working with children and youth is so crucial», says Kirseten Kallesen. «Through RESET (Resilience, Embodiment, Self-Understanding, Empathy, Transformation), we train professionals on how to work with trauma so that even more children affected by the war can receive the necessary help».

The project is implemented by the Ukrainian Education Platform in partnership with the NGO «Youth of Ukraine» in Mykolaiv and the «Ukrainian Peacekeeping School», with financial support from CISU (Denmark) and the support of the Italian government.