Kateryna Sukhorebska, who is running art activities for displaced children in her bookshop in Lviv, says children are painting the reality of war: “They draw bombs and tanks, because that’s what they see with their own eyes. But there is also hope in their drawings, and the wish for peace and victory.”
The treatment of some of these mental health disorders requires immediate and constant therapy, but many Ukrainian children are constantly on the move. They are travelling long distances, on foot, by train, car and bus. Their families are forced to change dormitories, day after day. They are forced to stand in queues of people and vehicles stretching for miles before crossing the borders into Poland or Romania, waiting in the cold for up to 40 hours.
Suvalo explains that often his team do not have time to diagnose mental health disorders before the children have left the clinic, bound for another village or for Poland.
“I suppose that in western countries they will receive a lot of proper care,” he says. “If these children can live in a stable environment, they may also be able to convert these traumas into resilience, as is the history of our Ukrainian people.
“If you look at the history of Ukraine, in the 20th and 21st centuries, it is full of great traumas. The first world war, the second world war, the Soviet occupation, and the internal revolutions of the last ten years, up until this terrible invasion. Yet, despite these wars, despite the destruction, despite the bombs and tragedies, despite everything, we are still alive.”
‘They draw bombs, tanks and wishes for peace’: Ukraine’s child mental health crisis
Theatre workshops and art classes have sprung up to offer temporary respite from war as doctors warn of widespread trauma
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