In a small classroom in Košice, Slovakia, paints, brushes, and soft music set the stage for an art therapy session. As they enter, five teenagers – Masha, Andrij, Katya, Ivan and Alina – are greeted by Sofya, the session leader. All of the adolescents have come to Slovakia from Ukraine, where they fled the war.
Sessions like these, supported by UNICEF's Pathways Initiative, have offered them more than just creative expression. They are a refuge from daily challenges and loneliness.
"When you arrive in a foreign country, it's easy to feel lost. This club is more than a meeting place – it’s a community,” says Sofya.
This has been true for fifteen-year-old Masha, who fled her hometown of Kharkiv for Slovakia.
When she came to the country, she did not speak any Slovak. Five months later, she is still attending her Ukrainian school online, rather than the Slovak education system.
"I am learning Slovak, and I dream of studying at a university one day"
The difficulty of integration into Slovak school system, which are taught in a different language and have different curricula from Ukraine's, is part of why dropout rates are high for displaced students like Masha. But she is determined. "I am learning Slovak, and I dream of studying at a university one day," she says.
Masha's dreams are being supported through UNICEF’s Pathways Initiative, which helps young Ukrainians learn Slovak, access education and gain the skills they need to enter employment.
Main feature of the initiative is its “one stop shops”, which provide wrap-around services for Ukrainian youth to access language courses, mental health support, career counseling, referrals for upskilling and job opportunities, and community events. Mental health support is offered through a number of ways, such as art therapy.
In the "one stop shop" of Košice, while Masha and the other students draw and paint, a youth club buzzes with activity in another room. Three times a week, young Ukrainians gather here to play games, connect, and relax.
Kateryna Kniaziuk, 19, arrived in Slovakia three years ago and is now studying design at a technical university. She also works as a youth coordinator at the club, which was launched in early February 2025.
“My parents told me I had to leave Ukraine for my safety. Here, I found a new opportunities. I study design, and through my work at the club, I help others find their place in this new reality,” she says.
The full-scale war in Ukraine has caused a large-scale displacement of Ukrainians into neighboring countries since February 2022. Today, more than 132,000 Ukrainian people have been recorded as living in Slovakia. Ukrainian adolescents and youth are particularly vulnerable and difficult to reach, as the services available to them are difficult to access or are not available.
