Ukraine’s faith leaders trained to support mental health

Supporting pastors

Daniel Lugovskiiy, a pastor from the town of Marhanets in central Ukraine, lives mere kilometres from the front line. “Right now, I see that there are no mentally stable people around me. People are losing faith in the future, growing desperate with every day,” he says.

“We desperately, critically need knowledge that will help us support our people and give them self-help instruments. My dream and ultimate goal is for our whole town, thousands of people, to go through [this] training.”

To Daniel, such training is the first step in future growth for his church as well as himself. He says, “Our church is trying to give all the love we have to our community, but I understand that we need to grow and support people more professionally. For me, this training is the foundation, but now I’m seriously considering receiving a formal qualification in the field.”

Oleksandr

“ Our society is losing its children because of this war,” Oleksandr Taraba, a pastor from Dnipro, says. “We encounter a lot of children with zero interests, zero desires. Parents are forced to deal with ongoing problems — making a living, stress, safety. One or two years don’t mean much to us adults. But children grow up so quickly,” he adds. 

“In two or three years a child becomes a teenager, and that’s when the fundamentals of their future life and personality are cemented ... They lose this crucial time,” explains Oleksandr. 

Peter

“If I’m honest with you, before the war, when there were rumours that the war would start, I thought I would leave,” says Peter Loboiko, a faith leader from Kharviv, Ukraine. “But when it began, I couldn’t, I physically could not. When I imagined leaving, I felt physically sick: my legs would go numb, I felt uneasy and nauseous. I felt I was needed there.”

Peter and his wife began sharing food from his wife’s business to help people hiding in the basements in nearby buildings. Later, they began to evacuate people from the hotspots in their city — places where even emergency services and the police wouldn’t go. People ask Peter and his wife when they plan to leave. He responds: “When we evacuate the last person out of Kharkiv.” But many people stayed, and Peter and his wife stayed too.

He says, “Before the war, I preached to people. My neighbours knew that I am a man of God, a pastor. To take off and leave, to me meant to betray the people to whom I preached about God and faith.”

He explains that even before the war, people looked at priests as the source of faith, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. “In times of crisis, there is even a bigger demand. Therefore, it is crucial that priests and pastors are qualified,” Peter says. “There are times when you need to understand the person’s psychology, their trauma, and give the right counsel, the right guidance. Then you can actually help. On top of spiritual help, help through prayer, you must give the right psychological support.”

That’s why this training is so critical for Peter. “I came to this training not only to learn to help others, but also to get a breath of fresh air for myself,” he says. “It is an opportunity for us to learn, get some inspiration, and go back to serving and helping our people.”