Mental health is essential for recovery, resilience, and peace. As Ukraine continues to face the impacts of war, strengthening community-based mental health and psychosocial support is an important part of supporting young people, families, and communities.
Through the Mind the Future programme partnership, ICDI is contributing to Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction by strengthening the resilience of young people and supporting them to participate actively in the social and economic rebuilding of their communities and country.
As part of the programme, ICDI has developed two practical toolkits to support mental health and psychosocial well-being in communities affected by the ongoing war:
- Community-Based Psychological First Aid
- Stress, Trauma, and Mental Well-being in Times of Crisis
Practical tools for community-based support
The toolkits contain accessible, trauma-informed activities that can help promote emotional safety, connection, stress regulation, shared coping, and community resilience. They are designed to be used in community settings where young people and adults already come together, including sports associations, arts and cultural groups, youth spaces, and other community structures.
An accompanying Facilitator’s Manual provides guidance on using the activities safely and sensitively. It supports facilitators in creating appropriate spaces for participants, recognising signs of distress, and understanding when professional support or referral may be needed.
These resources will be used by trained community facilitators in Ukraine to organise supportive activities and workshops for young people and community members. The resources can also be used more broadly by professionals and community organisations working with people affected by crisis.
Resources for professionals and community facilitators
The toolkits are intended for a wide range of people supporting young people and communities affected by crisis, including mental health practitioners, youth workers, community facilitators, educators, and other professionals and volunteers.
Available in English and Ukrainian, the resources can help community members:
- recognise signs of distress;
- provide appropriate first-line support;
- strengthen individual and collective coping skills;
- create safer and more supportive community spaces; and
- understand when professional support or referral may be needed.
Building a collection of four toolkits
The two newly available resources are the first in a collection of four toolkits being developed by ICDI through Mind the Future.
Two additional resources are currently in development:
Supporting Families and Children under Prolonged Stress, which focuses on the specific needs of families experiencing prolonged stress, and Practical Self-Help Skills for Managing Daily Stress, which focuses on strengthening the resilience and well-being of caregivers and professionals, including psychologists, social workers, and educators.
Together, the four toolkits will provide a complementary, community-based approach to strengthening mental health, resilience, and recovery in Ukraine.
Explore and download the resources:
https://icdi.nl/projects/mind-the-future/
The Mind the Future programme is implemented by International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI), De Veranderkamer, Labor and Health Social Initiatives (LHSI), and Fundacja PRO-FIL.
The project is funded by the Ukraine Partnership Facility (UPF), a programme of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. UPF supports damage repair and reconstruction projects and contributes to the sustainable recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine’s economy and society.
