Waterford resident helping Ukrainian women cope with war
A Waterford woman on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women has been working to help improve the mental health of Ukrainians affected by the three-year-long war that started with Russia's invasion of the country in 2022.
Nancy Butler, a longtime local financial adviser, author and motivational speaker, said she got the idea to bring together women's groups from throughout Ukraine to discuss mental health issues when she heard during a commission meeting about the extraordinary toll the war was taking on the country's female population.
She said the idea was immediately embraced by Ukrainian women's groups, and just last month dozens of them gathered on Zoom to talk about programs that have helped women who feel isolated, threatened and under a tremendous amount of pressure as much of the male population has been forced to fight a war to save their democracy.
The biggest problem of mental health of women in Ukraine, in my opinion, is burnout," said Natalia Gnatyuk, who heads the Sustainable Development Fund for the Ukrainian Sustainable Development Academy, U-SDA, in a western region of the country called Khmelnytskyi, in an email response to questions. "Three years of full-scale Russian invasion devastated Ukrainian settlements, especially small towns and villages. The entire burden of supporting the front, supporting the family, the elderly and people with disabilities fell on women."
In an earlier Zoom interview Feb. 25 from her home in Ukraine, Gnatyuk said the sessions Butler helped set up Jan. 6 were very powerful, and she has been busy forming new partnerships as a result, especially around sustainable development and recovery.
"It was our first time when we have such international cooperation," she said via Zoom. "It's nice to create new partnerships."
Gnatyuk equated the mental health service delivery system in Ukraine today with the idea that "whoever took the first coat is the doctor."
But she said the recent Zoom conference, which brought together many different regions of Ukraine, pointed to the need to form a new social ecosystem based on partnerships within certain geographic areas, rather than the traditional institutional approach that tends to erect walls based on different mental health categories.
"In Ukraine today there are many organizations that provide assistance by dividing people into categories and this, in my opinion, is the wrong path, since by communicating with people with similar traumas, we have no chance to get out of this circle of problems," Gnatyuk said. "In this case, multifunctional teams are more flexible and sustainable. They help a person gradually find their unique place, restore, helping others."
Gnatyuk said women's mental health issues in wartime can be affected by the loss of loved ones, of course, but there are also myriad other issues, including everyday problems with apartment repairs, medical care, and the stigma of mental disorders. Some women fear giving birth to children in the middle of a war, and for female students the isolation of distance learning and lack of socialization can negatively affect mental health.
"Emotional stress plus physical exhaustion lead to disruptions in the nervous system," Gnatyuk said. To combat this, she added, "The most effective are emotional reset programs, collective cultural and educational activities. Constructive and productive communication in support groups. Formation of local multifunctional teams capable of organizing social support for ALL who need it."
Women's groups in Ukraine, she added, are currently trying to collect success stories to focus on how people can change their lives in a positive direction. One methodology, she said, focuses on helping women transition from the "survival" paradigm to a "creation" paradigm as a way to take control of their lives.
Gnatyuk said her country is aware of the current political situation that indicates the United States is withdrawing support for her country, but believes it was predictable even if it's a wrong turn for both Ukraine and the United States.
"We in Ukraine are now forming an image of the future world order," she said. "We are convinced that within the American people there are many capable cells that will not wait for political decisions, but will make their own correct decisions in the direction of partnership and interaction at the basic level."
She said ordinary Americans are now helping the most to bolster Ukraine's spirit. Nancy Butler, who has been a leader among women locally with such groups as Safe Futures and the Women's Network of Eastern Connecticut, said she was glad to be able to put a spotlight on the women of Ukraine as the war drags on.
"Right now, when heads of state cannot agree and provide peace and security to humanity, the role of personal connections becomes especially relevant," Gnatyuk said. "The formation of communication at the level of 'person-person,' 'group-group,' the implementation of micro-projects, daily activities, even if small, are the key to our common stability. And the more of them there are, the better.
l.howard@theday.com
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