A pioneering program funded by the AFUO’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal (UCA) Resettlement Fund has provided over 50 recently arrived Ukrainian women with much needed mental health support.  The Women’s Circle (Zhinoche Kolo) program provides group talk therapy, trauma informed yoga, and nature-based retreats and workshops run by professional counsellors, Australian-Ukrainians … [Read more...]

Thank you Australia for joining 31 countries in delivering interventions before the International Court of Justice - the UN’s highest court - in support of Ukraine’s case against Russia.  The intervention “demonstrates Australia’s unwavering commitment to upholding fundamental rules of international law and the integrity of the Genocide Convention,” said the Attorney … [Read more...]

Seven psychiatrists and psychologists from the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv and “Bezbaryernist” in Kyiv are in Australia for three months to train in trauma management and explore mental health strategies which will help Ukraine cope with the mental scars of war. The full-scale Russian invasion has intensified the need for mental health services for … [Read more...]

Proudly assisted by the AFUO, The Australian newspaper journalist Liam Mendes has been reporting from Ukraine since mid August with searing photos and interviews which bear witness to the courage of the Ukrainian people and the resilience of the human spirit. His latest front page story featured Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk praising the Aussie Bushmaster. The previous … [Read more...]

A compelling video has been posted by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine highlighting Russia’s kidnapping of 20,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories. In the video, 8-year-old Valya is forcibly taken to Russia, given up for adoption, deprived of speaking her native tongue and subjected to the ideology of ‘ruscism’ - the hatred of everything Ukrainian. She dreams … [Read more...]