The first 140 women and their children affected by the war have undergone an emotional stabilisation programme through the Unbreakable Mum project, launched by Metinvest Group’s Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative together with the Masha Foundation.  

The first stage of the programme has been completed. It involved Metinvest employees, their spouses and children who have lived under occupation, lost family members, left their homes or experienced psychological trauma.  

This is not the first Metinvest initiative to focus on caring for the psychological health of its employees during the war. Earlier, the Group provided assistance at rehabilitation and reintegration centres for internally displaced employees. After all, from the first day of the war, employees of the Group found themselves at the forefront of resistance to the aggressor in Mariupol, Avdiivka and other cities that suffered damage as a result of hostilities. The events experienced during the war have caused anxiety disorders for many Metinvest employees whose work is associated with increased danger. That is why the Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative focused on a comprehensive programme of physical and psychological rehabilitation for civilians in the regions where Metinvest’s businesses operate: employees who are military veterans, their family members, female employees and their children.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group:

“The Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative focuses on physical and psychological recovery of people to build the future. The project helps Ukrainians to survive by providing food, basic necessities and medicines. We have implemented a comprehensive programme for Metinvest’s employees, which started with assistance in rehabilitation and reintegration centres. Now, Saving Lives is engaged in psychological rehabilitation of female employees and their children, spouses and children of employees, as well as providing prosthetics for wounded employees who have served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Aside from this, we are considering the possibility of extending our effort to psychological rehabilitation of demobilised employees. Cooperation with the Masha Foundation is another step towards restoring the mental health of Ukrainian families. We will continue to do everything to ensure that those who need it most receive assistance.”

Rehabilitation process 

The participants attended two sessions in the Carpathians that lasted three weeks each. Together with mental health specialists, they engaged in activities based on an individual plan for mothers and children. They attended psychological classes and art therapy workshops and received individual consultations.

During the programme, mothers were treated using eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, art therapy, mindfulness training, as well as the psychodrama, body, narrative and cognitive behavioural therapy techniques. Children were engaged in neurogymnastics and play therapy. They were also treated using ‘serial drawing’ and ‘safe space’ techniques and taught to develop stress tolerance.

Olha Koptieva, psychologist-methodologist of the joint session of the Masha Foundation and the Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative:

“There is no doubt that Ukraine will win the war physically. But if after the victory we sink into PTSD, into trauma, and start quarrelling with each other, we will lose. Because one of the symptoms of trauma is aggression. And manifesting it, people do not understand what is happening to them and why. The Unbreakable Mum programme not only stabilises the psycho-emotional state of women, but we also teach how to understand what is happening to our mental health, why we react to some events in this way and how to return to ourselves. And at home, women will understand how to help their children and comfort their husbands. Our programme not only restores women, but it also saves families. And that’s why it preserves our future.”

The team of professionals at Unbreakable Mum have created a safe environment where everyone can deal with their own feelings, overcome traumatic experiences and find the internal resources to live a full life. During the project, adults and children received roadmaps for dealing with urgent problems and learned successful models of behavioural strategies to take care of their psycho-emotional state after the programme.

Viktoriia Kiva, project participant:

“I would like to thank the donors, organisers and people who implemented the Unbreakable Mum project. I am deeply grateful to each and every one of the miracle workers and doctors who cared for our wounded souls through psychological rehabilitation, excellent accommodation, intensive programmes and positive moods. It is with your help that we, mothers of little citizens of Ukraine, find inner resources to bring up the future generation. It is with your help that we feel strong and free – people who see a future path in life.”

The Masha Foundation is an NGO co-founded by prominent TV presenter Masha Efrosinina and the director of the GoGlobal NGO Oksana Nechyporenko. It was created to help women and their children who have experienced any form of violence. In 2022, more than 1,000 women and children were enrolled in the rehabilitation camp of the Masha Foundation’s Unbreakable Mum project. The plans for 2023 are to double the number of participants in the programme. 

Oksana Nechyporenko, co-founder of the Masha Foundation: 

“Restoring women is the mission of the Masha Foundation, and we welcome every opportunity to carry it out. It is important that the business community understands and joins such an initiative. That is why cooperation in the project with Metinvest Group's Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative is a win-win for us.”

The Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative plans to continue the programme next year, given the positive changes in the lives of the project participants after working with psychologists and the tremendous need for psychological recovery among Metinvest’s employees. 

Other assistance from Saving Lives 

The Saving Lives Humanitarian Initiative was created by Metinvest Group in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The initiative provides large-scale ongoing assistance to Ukrainians, including food and basic necessities. To this end, two hubs have been arranged in Poland, where wholesale cargoes are collected, sorted and prepared for dispatching. In coordination with the government of Ukraine, they are delivered to cities and regions where this support is needed. More than 303,000 Ukrainians have already received food and hygiene products.

The medical sector also receives strong support from Saving Lives. Since the beginning of the war, medicines, consumables and equipment have been supplied to Ukrainian hospitals at a cost of EUR240,000.

One of the new areas of work for Saving Lives is the rehabilitation of employees affected by the war: war veterans, their families, female employees and their children. In particular, the initiative has launched a prosthetics programme for Ukrainians. At the first stage, the programme will cover 16 employees of Metinvest and their family members located in Ukraine and abroad. Later, the programme intends to involve war veterans and civilians in the regions where Metinvest operates.

Saving Lives also supports the creation of a Ukrainian-language online educational platform for professionals in the field of prosthetic limbs and related rehabilitation to improve the quality of medical services and help victims return to normal life and work more effectively.