Ukrainians visit Sebastopol to study treatment of trauma in children and adults
Ukrainians visit Sebastopol to study treatment of trauma in children and adults
This Open World program is organized and partially sponsored by Sebastopol World Friends. Don't miss the community presentation by the Ukrainian delegation on Feb. 2 at the Grange.
For two weeks, January 26 through February 9, Sebastopol is hosting a delegation of psychologists, social workers and teachers from Ukraine.
Organized by Sebastopol World Friends (SWF), the visit is sponsored in part by Open World, a congressionally sponsored program that brings professionals from post-Soviet and developing countries to the United States to experience open government and study a variety of topics pertinent to their countries.
Since 2008, Sebastopol World Friends has hosted seven Open World delegations. This most recent group is the first delegation visit to Sebastopol in five years, since COVID.
The six delegates, who are staying with SWF families, will explore the topic “Developing Child and Family Counseling Networks.” They’ll meet with politicians, including Lynda Hopkins and Jared Huffman, and visit local schools and the Sebastopol Police Department. They’ll also visit a number of mental health organizations, such as TLC Child and Family Services, Child Parent Institute, Forget Me Not Farm, and the local chapter of NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), as well as several local therapists.
The first week of activities is sponsored by Open World. Sebastopol World Friends raised money to pay for the second week.
“One week just isn’t enough,” said Beth Lamb, the Sebastopol World Friends organizer of the trip, “So we support the second week.”
Lamb said the group was focusing on “children and family services, specifically dealing with trauma, of which there's plenty to go around,” she said, thanks to the war in Ukraine.
Back in their home country, some of the delegates work with children, others with adults and at least one specializes in working with veterans.
The delegates are:
Svitlana Pidnebesna: Head of the Social Protection Department of the Chyhyryn City Council.
Anna Karpova: Social Work Specialist with the Social Services Center of the Chyhyryn City Council.
Daria Rubtsova: Psychologist with the Smila City Social Services Center.
Svitlana Skliar: Director of the Inclusive Resource Center (special educational needs) of the Cherkasy City Council.
Hanna Yefimtseva: Chief Specialist EdCamp Ukraine, a worldwide teacher training resource.
Olena Zhyvko: Head of the Union of Volunteers Veterans Organization.
Sebastopol World Friends held a welcome party for the delegates on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Sebastopol Youth Annex. Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman gave the official welcome, during which he welcomed the delegates, thanked their host families and Sebastopol World Friends for organizing the visit.
Speaking through a translator, all the delegates expressed gratitude for the program. “I’m very happy to be here, especially in Sebastopol,” Anna Karpova said. “I’m very excited about learning the culture and some things I can take back home, for my life and professionally as well.”
“I really hope all the knowledge and experience that we get here will help me help educators in Ukraine at such a difficult time,” said Hanna Yefimtseva
When the delegates mentioned the war in Ukraine, they did so glancingly—“a difficult time,” “the trouble back home”—but translator Olga Tkachuk said, of course, the war is always on their minds.
“It is difficult for them to be away from their families,” she said. “You see the information in the news about the air attacks, and when you are away, you don’t know how severe it is. It is hard because we are in a safe place, but our families, our children, are not.”
Want to find out more about this program? Sebastopol World Friends is hosting a Community Presentation by the Open World delegation from Ukraine on Friday, Feb. 2, 7 to 9 pm, at the Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.
