War veterans Oleksandr Marushchyk from InGOK and Ivan Pravdyn from Metinvest Sichstal underwent a three-day rehabilitation and psychosocial support programme with experts of the Israeli Trauma Coalition at the ULIS countryside complex in Kyiv region. Non-governmental organization DOLADU was a partner of the programme.
Veterans of the current full-scale war are mostly young people who had to leave their peaceful jobs and take up arms because of the military aggression. Each of them now has gone through their own difficult experiences and personal tragedies. Demobilised for health reasons, age or family circumstances, they are now learning to live a civilian life again. Most of them need specialised help to fully recover.
The organisers of the DoLadu mental health lab rehabilitation programme joined in to tackle this issue. They invited veterans from different regions of Ukraine to take part in a pilot course. Two Metinvest colleagues from Krivyi Rih were among the first participants. Before the war, Oleksandr Marushchyk worked as a grinding mill operator at ore dressing plant No. 2 of Ingulets Iron Ore Enrichment Works. When the war broke out, he joined the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces and served in the 60th Separate Mechanised Ingulets Brigade that distinguished itself during the liberation of Kherson region. After a serious injury and treatment, he came back to work at the plant. Oleksandr has just completed a rehabilitation programme.
"I am very satisfied with the trip. It was a great opportunity to take my mind off things and meet interesting people. We had lads from Lviv, Kyiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Kremenchuk. Everyone has their own combat experience, they fought in different sectors, in different units. While I usually don't like it when people ask me for details about the frontline, especially those who have no idea what's going on there, here we spoke with the same language with instructors and lads. There wasn't enough time to open up more, to get things off your chest, but I really liked the organisation and the idea," said Oleksandr MARUSHCHYK.
During the 3-day programme, all the participants lived in a countryside estate. According to the organisers, engaging with nature was one of the methods of restoring and strengthening veterans' mental health. Aside from lectures and practical classes, the participants cooked together in the open air, had conversations around the evening campfire, and went hiking in the forest. Ivan Pravdyn, an automation engineer of Metinvest Sichsteel's Design Department, also praised the trip. He was serving in the 5th Separate Assault Brigade in the Donetsk region when he was wounded.
"It was very interesting for me. The lectures by instructor Borys Sihal were particularly useful. He is well-known among combatants. He himself is a veteran of the Israeli army, who had injuries and health problems caused by them. His mission in Ukraine is to help Ukraine's defenders with recovery. He is using his own methods of treatment and shared them with us. He showed us how to help ourselves when we suddenly feel a lot of pain, how nature can help us, and how to help each other. These are practical things that can be done in the future," said Ivan PRAVDYN.
As a result, the programme participants gained coping and recovery skills, learned the basics of psychological assistance in crisis situations, and talked about adapting to the work environment and communicating with other fellow workers. Upon returning to work, Metinvest's veteran employees can count on continued free psychological counselling and support from colleagues.
