Trauma Response for Those Displaced by War in Ukraine
A WEA Peace & Reconciliation Network Project
What is happening
As of June 21st, 2022, 5,261,278 individual Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe, with 8,007,014 border crossings registered since February 24th.1
Since the beginning of the war at the end of February 2022, PRN has been part of a collaborated response with WEA TRUST, AEM and EFN for refugee shelter, relief and development support.
As the impact of the conflict expands, the need for a system to respond to traumatized individuals has become obvious as churches in eastern and western Europe have provided compassionate welcome, basic support, and psychological first aid. Many displaced people are now settling in new communities, receiving refugee status, and working. Others remain in uncertainty, considering moves to other parts of the world, or are returning into Ukraine. In all these cases there is need for deeper trauma care with a coordinated and strategic evangelical response. In addition, among the displaced are highly trained Ukrainians in areas of counselling, trauma care and psychology whose faith, gifts, and cultural awareness should be utilized.
What is planned:
- PRN is positioned within the WEA as responsible for coordinating a networked trauma-care response for those displaced by the war. This requires the leadership of the following:
- PRN Global Director who oversees this trauma-response project.
- Local Trauma Care personnel to lead Counselling Centers (CC) recruited by PRN with trusted partners and compensated through WEA/PRN.
- PRN, together with WEA TRUST, begins Counselling Centers (CC) in countries receiving significant displaced peoples as a result of the war. A CC will partner with local evangelical expert practitioners, including Ukrainians, to welcome refugees with traumatic experiences and offer immediate assistance or connect them to appropriate therapeutic care in that country or beyond. A CC becomes a hub that local churches and, if established, National Evangelical Alliances can refer people to, and be resourced and equipped by for their ongoing compassionate response to those effected by trauma. PRN will work with WEA TRUST and other WEA ministries and departments to asses areas of greatest need and will seek to integrate CC’s into WEA networks and national alliances. The goal is always collaboration with various departments and partners for effective local church engagement as agents of God’s reconciliation and shalom.
- Latvian Biblical Center (LBC) in Riga is proposed as a first CC joint venture with PRN WEA. Latvia has received thousands of those displaced by the war and LBC is historically a successful partner with the Latvian Evangelical Alliance and other WEA partners, including strength in the areas of counselling. As a willing partner, LBC is able to provide meeting space and counsellors for trauma-reponse.
Financial Need:
- $50,000 to cover personnel costs, networking, training, implementation, and materials through the end of 2022