Psychologist for mom

Such different voices in the handset. Tearing and hysterical. Tired and indifferent. With a touch of resentment and bitterness, with rhetorical questions. Voices of parents of seriously ill children. We tirelessly collect funds for the treatment of children and forget that their life and health are 90% dependent on their parents. From how much mental strength they have to fight, look after and rehabilitate, seek help, burn to the ground and be reborn again. This fee is for psychological assistance to parents of seriously ill children, which is more relevant than ever.

When 3-5 years ago we at the Helping Charity Foundation asked parents of seriously ill children whether they needed a psychologist, they shrugged. Now the number of mothers and fathers, resolutely answering “yes”, is growing: over the past six months we have more than a dozen calls. Not because it has become more difficult for them to cope: it has always been incredibly difficult. But because the psychologist and psychotherapist in the minds of Ukrainians is no longer an exotic profession, but an ordinary specialist who can and should be consulted.

People have learned to listen to themselves. People have learned to admit that they are on the verge and cannot cope without outside help. Life of parents of seriously ill children is easy to imagine. You had plans: education, profession, family, children. Children are born, developed, rejoice. First steps, first assessments, first love. Then exciting exams, university, work... But a child is born – and the doctors of the hospital change in face. Shun your gaze. You see the diagnosis on the statement. It takes you many days to realize that a child may never go, not talk. He may not have friends, school, university. Perhaps he, only he will become your only project for the rest of your life. And great luck if you and your spouse stay together. It takes even more time to accept this. You need to learn to find joy in this life again.

And she, life, regularly throws up surprises for which you were not prepared. Not colic in the baby’s tummy and temperature in the teeth. And spasticity and epileptic seizures, and kickbacks in development after each ARI. And the failures of funds, and oblique views of others. To despair – exactly one step. Depression? Yes, you have long been in it. The cost of a good psychotherapist (and not every specialist is ready to work with such a topic) is UAH 600 per lesson. We have volunteers, but they can’t cope with the influx of applications. In addition, there is a well-known rule: the work of a psychotherapist with a patient is much more effective when it is paid. And the matter is not in the efforts of a specialist, but in relation to the client.

We open a collection of 20 sessions with a psychotherapist for the parents of our wards. Please support the project! Let's save our parents from despair together!