Eye of Ukraine, photograph, by Victoria Krinitsya, 2022

Creating a national model to support Ukrainians to SURVIVE and THRIVE in crisis.

Resilience is an active process, and in Ukraine, we must support Ukrainians to continue to adjust and adapt in real time to war, crisis, and trauma. We cannot wait until the Russo-Ukrainian War has ended. We are building and implementing new trauma-informed models that integrate the fields of cognitive developmental neurosciences, psychology, education, and spirituality to support Ukrainians not only to survive, but thrive in crisis. 

Psychological & Spiritual Resilience in Action

Global Community Corps is collaborating with Eleos-Ukraine and Ukraine’s Territorial Defense to implement a train-the-trainer model to foster psychological and spiritual resilience for Ukrainian citizens. We are using the best research, theory, and practice, and tailoring this to Ukrainian contexts. Ukrainians know what they need and they are experts in their current crisis. We are providing international expertise in order to support Ukrainians to build a model that will have a springboard effect for positive adaptation in adversity. We highlight the following implementation components in the Project U Model:

  1. We start with a small group of international experts and deeply-experienced Ukrainian practitioners to design, revise, and re-implement the initial model.
  2. We will train two sectors in Ukraine:
    • Chaplains enlisted in Territorial Defense
    • Nonprofit Organizations
  3. Each sector will continue to train their professional staff to train their target population, which then trains families, thereby reaching parents, children, and elders.
  4. The initial Project U pilot use this national model to reach 8.8 million Ukrainians with tools, strategies, and approaches to support effective coping during war and disaster.

Project U: Psychological & Spiritual Resilience Structural Implementation Model

International Collaborators Work on the Most Pressing Problems

Discussing Project U Model Design at Tufts University in January, 2023. From left to right, Dr. Laura Vanderberg (President Global Community Corps), Reverend Serhiy Dmytriyev (Military Chaplain, 30th Mechanized Brigade; Chairman, Eleos-Ukraine), Polina (Translator), Tetiana Ivanova (Executive Project Manager, Eleos-Ukraine). In the discussion, not pictured, Diana Chigas (Senior International Officer and Associate Provost and Professor of Practice in International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Tufts University) and Peter Levine (Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University)