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Among the priority areas of social rehabilitation work carried out by the NGO "Volunteer - 68", one occupies a special place. This is a project called “60+Active”, which is unique in its versatility.
The result of its implementation should be the development of a therapeutic space of trust and peace for one of the most affected segments of our country.
The essence of the project is to create and maintain a social platform for women over the age of sixty. These are not just elderly women, but women who have been uprooted from their usual environment, whose homes have been destroyed and whose property has been lost. These are women who have been under occupation for a long time, who have suffered under enemy shelling, who have lost their loved ones. These women are internally displaced persons (IDPs).
How do we try to maintain this space?
The project consists of several rehabilitation practices that are equivalent in impact, although they differ in form, based on the gender and age of the participants.
These are traditional get-togethers with tea and coffee and goodies, where women can communicate naturally with each other and the organizer, usually a professional psychologist, who naturally guides the communication in the most favorable and non-conflictive direction. Such an event can be combined with a joint screening of classic Ukrainian films, which performs a certain transcendental function - mentally returning women to their young, carefree years.
Workshops are another form of psychological rehabilitation for women. As a rule, they are led by craftswomen who are skilled in handicrafts or by someone from among the project participants who have mastered some simple art that takes up their hands and does not interfere with communication. Among such events, for example, were master classes on making rag dolls, creating various variations of origami and toy animals from woolen threads, and similar activities that are not tiring and promote relaxation.
The next way we organize our activities in line with the 60+Active project is to hold lectures and psychological trainings. This is done by invited specialists.
For example, lectures on gender-based violence (GBV) and strategies to combat it, psychological relief trainings, as well as manual and hypnotherapy sessions are conducted by a certified specialist, Kharkiv psychologist Natalia Korotia.
How is the 60+Active project being physically implemented?
There are two options here. Either our employees bring IDP women from the places of compact settlement (CCs) to the training center of the NGO “Volunteer-68” and the event takes place at our center. Or we bring lecturers or trainers and everything necessary for the event directly to the place where the 60+Active participants are staying.
“60+Active” is a way for older IDP women to adapt and restore their vitality and improve their emotional state as soon as possible. This project is not a one-time event, its effectiveness lies primarily in its ongoing nature, regularity of meetings and involvement of the widest possible range of participants. And we, in turn, will continue to think about diversifying and intensifying this initiative of the NGO “Volunteer-68”.