MoES, UNICEF and Diia.Digital Education portal launch: ‘To Be There’ - a new educational series about mental health support

The war in Ukraine has caused significant stress and trauma for many children and adults. Major life-world changes, feelings of uncertainty and danger, and forced displacement – all of this can be upsetting and cause anxiety.

This series developed by MoES and UNICEF for Diia.Digital Education portal will help teachers, volunteers, and everybody who works with children, better understand children's feelings and emotional reactions. This enables caregivers to react appropriately to unexpected situations, and to apply calming techniques that will provide children with the support they need.

Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate.

Why do Ukrainians need this series? 

• To understand how the war impacts children and how a specialist can help. 
• To provide recommendations on how to avoid re-traumatizing a child, how to build communication with a child, and how to start a conversation about a difficult experience. 
• To learn about post-traumatic stress disorder and its symptoms.
• To acquire mental health support skills for children during the educational process.
• To discover how the correct nutrition and physical activity will help to improve mental health.
• To learn to apply simple practices to restore peace within yourself and your children and build psychological resilience.

Who is this series for? 

Educators, psychologists, social workers and teachers, as well as other professionals who work with children.

The series includes three modules: 

Module 1 – How the war impacts children

Module 2 – How specialists can help children 

Module 3 – Mental health support for children and specialists 

Number of episodes: 11

Each episode duration: 5-20 minutes

“During air alerts, and especially where there are air threats, children and adults experience tension, worrying and fear. This is a normal state in extreme situations, but often these states come at a price. To better understand the conditions of the body, as well as to help yourself and those around you, we have created a special support series. For the sake of the future of Ukrainians, we take care of their psychological health today. This convenient educational series is a modern tool to support students during their studies, which is available to everyone, regardless of their location," said Serhiy Shkarlet, Minister of Education and Science in Ukraine.

“As part of the Diia.Digital Education project, we aim to provide relevant and digestible information about mental health support. The educational series ‘To Be There’ is aimed at supporting children, who are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society," says Valeriya Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration.

“Living through almost 11 months of war, including explosive attacks and intensive wailing air alert sirens, children in Ukraine are particularly vulnerable. These children often have no choice but to study, play and sleep in shelters. Moreover, without electricity millions of boys and girls often have lived in the cold and without access to their online classes. UNICEF has worked on this series to ensure caregivers, teachers, and social workers can manage the traumas that children in Ukraine have witnessed or lived through and to accommodate their needs,” said UNICEF Ukraine Representative Murat Sahin.

Speakers: 

• Aaron Greenberg, UNICEF Regional Adviser on Child Protection
• Nataliya Pashko, psychologist, expert from UNICEF and NGO Vseukrayinsʹkyy Hromadsʹkyy Tsentr Volonter
• Kateryna Yavna-Rosenthal, cognitive behavioral therapist, supervisor
• Denis Ugryn, professor of child psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London, psychiatrist
• Solomiya Boikovich, expert in preschool education, project manager for the NGO ‘Teach For Ukraine’
• Olena Petrushkevich, psychologist, expert from the NGO ‘Teach for Ukraine’
• Nataliya Samoilenko, nutritionist and endocrinologist, Head of the Association of Adult and Children Nutrition
• Svitlana Roiz, child and family psychologist
• Olena Lutsenko, psychologist-methodist, Ukrainian Association of Art Therapists 

The course from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine was developed within the framework of the national project Diia.Digital Education, with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Office in Ukraine.