Psychological, legal and social support: how the Resilience Centre in Mykolaiv works

A Resilience Centre is operating in Mykolaiv, where people affected by the war can receive free psychological, legal and social support, as well as consult a speech therapist.

This is reported by NikVesti.

The centre works with all categories of Mykolaiv residents. However, priority is given to vulnerable groups, in particular adults and children, internally displaced persons, large families, people with disabilities, single mothers and families raising children with disabilities.

There is also a mobile team that visits communities in the Bashtanka, Mykolaiv and Voznesensk districts of the Mykolaiv region. The mobile team provides the same range of services as the centre. Consultations take place at community centres, schools and other local institutions.

Lyudmila, the centre’s administrator and coordinator, explained that everyone who seeks help is put on a waiting list. She takes calls, enters the details and passes the information on to the relevant specialist. The specialist then contacts the person and lets them know when they will be able to provide assistance.

«The demand for help is definitely increasing. People realise that, at the moment, it’s very difficult to cope with their emotions and mental state without support from others,» says Lyudmila.

Anastasia came to see a psychologist because of personal issues with her self-esteem. According to her, the Centre’s specialists helped her deal with the issues she’d come to them about.

«I’m very grateful to everyone; there are some really lovely people here. I had certain problems, and I simply couldn’t answer these questions for myself. They helped me here. I’ve finally been able to accept and love myself. I had very low self-esteem, a lack of self-confidence, and constant problems. When I came to the centre, life became easier for me, and I felt lighter at heart,» said Anastasia.

Psychologist Svitlana says she provides psychological support to both adults and children.

«I really love working with teenagers. They’re simply incredible, and it’s very hard for them to find their place in this world, so I just guide them a little bit. Our help lies in supporting people as they make certain decisions, accept themselves and come to terms with the situations they face. We always follow the person’s needs. It’s our mission to make this world a little bit easier, a little bit better, and to help people cope with it all,» says Svitlana.

She added that most often people come with questions about how to cope with themselves during martial law, how to manage their emotions and their state of mind.

«Everyone’s situation is different. For example, if a couple are going through a divorce — how to get through it; the loss of a loved one — how to cope with that; or the loss of property. We have a great many people who have lost their homes, family members and loved ones, and we help them get through these difficult times. Of course, there are also situations where people find it difficult to cope with what is happening, and they may say that they don’t really want to go on living. We work with this too,» explains Svitlana.

The centre also works with children with autism spectrum disorders, hearing impairments and other developmental differences, and provides counselling for their parents.

«When we understand what a child’s difficulties are and how we can address them, we’re better able to interact with them. They learn to live with it, accept it and interact in a way that helps the child understand it too. Because when there’s a brain-based condition, simply saying, «Be obedient,» doesn’t work. Instead, we teach, explain and demonstrate using various methods and programmes,» says the psychologist.

In addition, the psychologist runs group sessions of various types and focuses. For example, art therapy sessions involving mandalas are currently taking place, where people can relax through creativity and work through their own experiences. They also run sessions to develop effective communication skills, particularly for children and teenagers.

«We develop strategies for discussing these issues, play various games — such as «Between Us» — and many others that help develop emotional intelligence,» explained Svitlana.

The psychologist noted that people can seek help from specialists throughout the entire duration of the project. There is no limit on the number of consultations, so each participant can receive as many as they need.

«I look at a person’s needs and work with them until they can see the results and are ready to cope on their own. Our aim is to guide, support and show that you are strong in your own right and can move forward. In other words, our aim is not to provide years of therapy, but to help people develop skills in self-help, self-regulation and social interaction. And then they can step out into the world with confidence. We build confidence,» concluded Svitlana.

Speech and language therapist Kateryna explains that she has 14 years’ experience and works with both adults and children aged between 2.5 and 16 years.

«Requests vary depending on age and the speech diagnosis. For example, with very young children, aged 2–2.5 years, parents ask for help in getting their child to start speaking. «When a child doesn’t speak at all, doesn’t use speech, or says only a few words, such as «mum» or «dad», and their speech seems to stop there, failing to develop into sentences,» explains Kateryna.

The speech therapist explains that pre-school and school-age children usually come with concerns about pronunciation, particularly if a child is unable to produce certain sounds or substitutes one sound for another. They also work on developing coherent speech.

«If the children are of school age, there may be requests relating to reading and writing difficulties. We work on this at the Centre too,» added Kateryna.

The Centre also has a social work specialist, Albina. She provides social support. This includes providing information and advice on accessing healthcare services, obtaining humanitarian aid, and referring people to other international organisations for assistance. She also provides direct social support when accompanying people to government departments, administrative service centres and social protection agencies to apply for state social benefits and services such as being placed on the housing register.

«Most often, people seek psychological support, help with finding accommodation — particularly when internally displaced persons come to us — help with finding work, social support, and information and advice on medical care,» says Albina.

She also manages cases relating to combating and preventing gender-based violence, meaning she provides this kind of comprehensive support. If we have such a case, we all work together: that includes me, as a social work specialist, a psychologist, a lawyer, and, if necessary, we bring in further support.

There is also a lawyer, Volodymyr, working at the centre. His role is to provide legal services to service users. This includes advising them and drafting legal documents, in particular claims to be filed in court to resolve the service users’ issues.

Most often, people seek help with inheritance and family matters. These include accepting an inheritance, extending the deadline for accepting an inheritance, divorce and maintenance payments.

«On average — bearing in mind that I started working in August — 13 beneficiaries have already received my assistance in drafting legal documents. There are also a great many consultations — an average of 40 per month,» said Volodymyr.

The Resilience Centre is located at 48 Kherson Highway, Mykolaiv. The centre is open Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 17.30.

As a reminder, a new theatre and concert venue called «Free Stage» has opened in Mykolaiv. It will host performances, literary events, creative gatherings, masterclasses, discussions and concerts.