It is our shared responsibility to rehabilitate and support those who have suffered during the war. Every day, GIDNA project specialists work with women whose relatives went missing or are in captivity, and also provide help to women survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. This support is not only about healing wounds, but also about restoring strength, dignity, power, and the ability to feel safe again.
This year, the GIDNA project expanded its operations on the Indefinite Loss direction, and paid special attention to Mykolaiv and the Mykolaiv region, a frontline area where assistance is urgently needed. In September alone, 114 out of 115 individual sessions were held with women from the Mykolaiv region. Currently, 26 women are participating in the program. The project is implemented with the support of Dan Church Aid and Norwegian Church Aid in Ukraine (DCA–NCA) within the framework of the “Comprehensive Humanitarian Response for Conflict-Affected Ukrainians and Citizens of Other Countries” campaign, funded by the Auswärtige Amt in partnership with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe.
The first step to getting assistance is knowing that it is available. Often, women lack information about where to find help. Others are ashamed to undergo therapy due to the stigma that still exists in society. Our task is to remind them that they should never be alone with their pain and that there are places where they can get help.
An important step was the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the GIDNA project and the Mykolaiv Regional Organization of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. This partnership will allow the organizations to combine their resources and experience and raise public awareness about access to free psychological help for Ukrainian women who have suffered from the war.
"Women in frontline regions suffer even more because they are extremely close to the war zone and constantly witness or experience loss. They live in constant tension and do not always know how to get help. Cooperation with the Mykolaiv Regional Organization of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society will allow us to get closer to these women and provide them with the necessary support," emphasizes Olena Nikolaienko, president of the Future for Ukraine Foundation in the United States.
Anna Hrubaia, psychologist and curator of the GIDNA project."Helping women who suffered from the war is not just necessary, but critically important. They are the main representatives of the generation, the strength and heart of the family. They take on many obligations and responsibilities, helping others, but for themselves, it's always on a residual basis. That is why we need to talk about the importance of caring for ourselves. We focus on helping women who are experiencing indefinite loss — women whose relatives went missing or are in captivity. We are here to help through joint efforts,"
GIDNA is the Future For Ukraine foundation’s project, which provides professional psychological assistance to women during the war. It is a safe space offering support to women survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, as well as those whose relatives went missing or are in captivity. GIDNA psychologists have undergone specialized training in trauma therapy and receive regular supervision from specialists from the Israel Trauma Coalition.
