Support for women with indefinite loss

In the darkest time of war, when the world seems to have stopped, women are left alone with their anxieties. They live between hope and despair, dreaming of the return of their loved ones who are missing or in captivity. Uncertainty permeates their thoughts, making them feel as if their lives are stuck between two worlds: the world of possibility and the world of loss. In this state, the soul hurts because it cannot let go, and more, it has no secure ground to move forward. They need help to cope with this burden.

GIDNA is a project of professional psychological assistance for women created by the charitable foundation Future for Ukraine. One of the areas we work with is supporting women whose relatives are missing or in captivity. The  indefinite loss is particularly painful because uncertainty increases stress and complicates the grieving process. 

Within the project, we aim to create a safe environment for expressing feelings and emotions, reducing the feeling of loneliness, helping women to go through the process of grieving and uncertainty, restoring their ability to psychological recovery, and building resilience that will allow them to cope with stress and anxiety.

Women who come to us receive individual and group counseling aimed at supporting their mental health. Our project offers different support options, depending on the complexity of each case. 

One of our beneficiaries, Marharyta, told us about the positive impact of her work with a psychotherapist at the GIDNA project. She has been waiting for her fiancé Ilia for 2 years and 3 months, who, along with other Mariupol defenders, was taken prisoner by russia in May 2022 after leaving the Azovstal plant surrounded by the enemy:

The Gidna project strives to help as many women as possible. Today, our goal is to provide psychological counseling to women who are waiting for their relatives to return from captivity or whose relatives are missing. The amount of money we plan to raise on dobro.ua is 280,000 UAH (the cost of one individual session with a qualified psychologist is on average 1,200 UAH, and a group session is 2,400 UAH. Working with women also involves supervision by psychologists).

By supporting our women today, we are improving the mental health of the entire Ukrainian nation and creating a better future for Ukraine