Dog Assisted Therapy Centers in Ukraine
The project’s objective is to open five DAT Centers in different cities of Ukraine for people who have been affected by the war.
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT SOLVE?
Provide Ukrainians with high-quality, professional assistance in overcoming the aftermath of the war through dog assisted therapy.
In Ukraine, there are approved programs for the psychological rehabilitation of veterans, but the state budget is not able to cover the rehabilitation of everyone who needs it, including temporarily displaced people and children who were forced to flee from their homes. Dog assisted therapy has proven to support in the rehabilitation of people after traumatizing experience, thus opening of 5 DAT centers in different cities of Ukraine will help more people overcome the aftermath of war.
The dog assisted therapy is provided by professional experienced therapists who are assisted by specially trained therapy dogs and aimed to help people who have been impacted by the war. Based on the centre’s visitors’ needs, both individual and group sessions have been offered.
The DAT centres arrange their work taking into consideration the therapy dogs’ needs and habits.
The war in Ukraine exposed millions of Ukrainians, including children to extremely traumatizing experience. Dog assisted therapy is an effective method to help overcome the aftermath of the war. The Centers are among the first organizations that provide service regularly in Ukraine. The Centers’ specialists can assist veterans and their families, Ukrainians who had to leave their homes because of the war, and who now live in the reality of bomb shelters, missile attacks and risk to their lives.
‘I am proud that our team has the opportunity to develop and implement such an important and bright project: dog assisted therapy shows itself to be very effective and efficient when working with children who have endured all the burdens of war, as well as military personnel and adults who have certain signs of stress or post-traumatic stress disorder caused by military actions. The creation dog assisted therapy centers in Ukraine is a very important step for helping to restore the mental health of society’
Olena Lobova, Head of the Board PO Change Communications.
“The dog assisted therapy seems to be a very simple process. Indeed, what is so difficult about petting a dog, playing a ball with it or walking it by a psychologically traumatized adult or a child who lived under constant shelling? However, it is not that simple as it seems. The most important thing in this process is that both the human being and the dog produce so-called happiness hormones during their interaction, which help a person to relax, feel safe and open up to effective work with a therapist. Specially trained therapy dogs have a great influence on progress and are of great help to a specialist who works with people who have experienced trauma”
Maryna Prokopenko, director of the DAT Center in Kyiv.
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