The Boyarka Community Foundation has completed the first stage of the project “I’m OK: Teaching Adolescents the Basics of Psychological Self-Help.”
In modern Ukraine, where children are forced to grow up to the sounds of sirens and explosions, the issue of youth mental health is particularly relevant. The project’s goal is to teach adolescents the basics of psychological self-help and help them find internal resources to overcome anxiety and panic.
During the six months of the “I’m OK” project, 213 sessions were conducted, including 174 in 19 educational institutions located in the Boyarka City Territorial Community, and 39 at the Kyiv Regional Children’s Hospital located in Boyarka. 2,869 schoolchildren aged 10-18 participated in the sessions, of whom 1,373 were boys and 1,496 were girls.
The sessions were conducted by psychologists who motivated teenagers to acquire new knowledge through interactive conversations, emotional connection, positive reinforcement, and creating an overall trusting, relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
The psychologists also activated knowledge that children already had at the time of the training. Adolescents shared what stresses they are exposed to and what methods of improving their psychological state they already know: music, walks, hobbies, communicating with friends, tasty food, physical activity, sports, everything related to water: swimming, contrast showers, baths, drinking water, etc. Specialists also discussed with children the impact of rocket and drone attacks on them and their relatives.
Adolescents were offered to learn 10 psychological exercises that help in extreme situations. The exercises were selected taking into account the general anxious and depressive atmosphere currently prevailing in Ukraine. They aim at emotional stabilization, self-regulation, normalization of breathing, grounding, restoring contact with the body, and positioning oneself “here and now.”
Thanks to the training, girls and boys gained practical skills that will help them in psychological recovery and in fighting panic attacks and anxiety.
To determine the effectiveness of the training, 19 selective surveys of adolescents were conducted. 151 respondents participated in the survey, including 81 girls and 70 boys, aged 10 to 18.
- The survey aimed to determine how many exercises teenagers knew before and after the sessions, as well as their self-assessment of readiness to independently overcome stressful states.
- According to the survey results, all 100% of respondents mastered self-help exercises to varying degrees. And 93% now know 5 to 10 exercises that can help them in a stressful situation.
- Also, all 100% of survey participants declared their readiness for stressful situations. And a high degree of readiness – from 7 to 10 points – is declared by 86% of respondents. Younger children (10-14 years) generally assess their readiness for stressful situations more optimistically than older and more mature adolescents (15-18 years).
The “I’m OK” project will continue to contribute to the psychological recovery of the younger generation.
It is implemented by the Boyarka Community Foundation thanks to a grant received from the Children’s Resilience Fund: Providing Capacity Building and Funding to Ukrainian Civil Society Organizations in Ukraine. The program is implemented by Crown Agents in Ukraine and Integrity Action.
