For two months, women from different parts of Ukraine attended support groups under the program "5 steps of resilience. For those who wait." Training took place in online and offline formats.
First meetings were devoted to getting to know women with each other, with leading psychologists, and discussing rules in groups. According to the leaders of the groups, military women often feel isolated, they have no one to share their feelings and problems with. So support groups for military wives are aimed at forming a support circle of like-minded people, where there will be no condemnation, but there will be care, understanding and, perhaps, even friendship.
Among the psychologists leading the group, there are wives who are also waiting for their partners, so they perfectly understand women, their feelings, fears and requests. Actually, the entire program is dedicated to a woman who is building a relationship with her long-distance partner and seeks to better understand herself and her lover.
Resilience or vitality, or life flexibility - this is the topic that was given attention at the second meeting of women who are waiting for their loved ones from the war. In support groups, participants explore themselves, relationships with their partners, their own values and meanings.
Understand the specifics of the partner's combat stress - a very important aspect in the work of groups, as it provides answers to many questions of the participants. This is one of the factors due to which changes in the behavior of a loved one occur - his reaction and even habits in everyday life also change. The peculiarities of the manifestation of combat stress can be the basis for many conflicts at the everyday or emotional level, experts explain. In order to track what exactly has changed (new reactions to certain situations, habits), group members record and analyze feelings and words in special notebooks. In addition, women share their own stories with each other, often similar to each other.
"How to find support for yourself, your partner and for us", is one of the topics in support groups. Women learn to nurture relationships, take care of themselves and their partners, build new bridges in relationships, speak frankly with their loved ones, where everyone can talk about their needs and feelings, can be heard and not risk the relationship. After all, each of the couple is now at different stages of the relationship. The reaction and behavior of a partner can very often go against emotional needs and expectations. Therefore, women were taught not to demand more from their lover than he can give in these circumstances.
As the leading psychologists explain, it is also important that the partners do not resort to a destructive cycle of mutual insults, bullying, reminders, and gossiping about painful topics in conversations. On the contrary, it is important to analyze your own feelings, relationships and, as a result, treat each other more carefully.
Happily ever after. It was under this slogan that one of the final meetings of women waiting for their loved ones from the war took place. The members of the support group made a collage with the couple's wishes, dreams and vision for the future. According to the psychologists who lead the groups, this gives a deeper awareness of one's own desires. Participants of support groups talked about the value of their own relationship, their partner, why they love him. Each shared her own story and plans.
Participating in the group gave everyone the opportunity to build a reliable bridge to the future with their partner, strengthen the couple and move towards a common goal together.
The program "5 steps of resilience. For those who are waiting" is being implemented as part of the project "Formation of a system of psychological support for defenders and their families as a guarantee of community stability" with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation as part of the joint initiative "European Renaissance of Ukraine".