• One year after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 20 Minutes is more than ever mobilized to inform you about the conflict. From 22 to 28 February, the editorial team offers reports, analyses, testimonies, videos, podcasts to report on the daily lives of civilians, the military situation on the ground, the diplomatic game.
  • Anna Arkhypova, a psychologist, fled Ukraine two weeks after the start of the war to Paris. In April 2022, she created the association Listen Ukraine, which offers psychological help to Ukrainian refugees in France.
  • 20 Minutes went to their Parisian offices to meet members and beneficiaries of the association, talk about their suffering, their fears. But also hope.

It is on the first floor of the Ukrainian Cultural Center, in the north of the 8th arrondissement of Paris. A large room with grey carpet and walls covered with posters in support of the country. There, four women sit on black and white plastic chairs. Among them, Anna Arkhypova, a Ukrainian and military psychologist by training, dressed all in white. She fled to France on March 8, 2022, nearly three weeks after the Russian invasion, leaving her husband behind on the front.

Upon her arrival in the capital, the forty-year-old made an observation: her fellow refugees were suffering. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress... varied and numerous evils. She therefore decided to create the association Ecoute Ukraine in April, in order to offer psychological help to her fellow refugees in France. Since then, every Monday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 14 p.m., about twenty people meet in this room with windows covered with yellow tape to share their stories and fears.

"We only talk about war"

Kateryna Miroshkina, black cap screwed on her skull, does not miss a single one of these meetings. The young woman fled eastern Ukraine a few weeks after the start of the war, to join France, a country she knew nothing about. When asked how she experienced her arrival in Paris, she replied, "I have to tell the truth?" Everyone bursts out laughing, accomplices. Kateryna has trouble letting go of her phone, her manicured fingers scroll mechanically the screen. Because if his body is no longer in the East, his thoughts have remained there. "People die there every day. I can't pretend it doesn't exist. »

The young woman with jet black hair closely follows the news from the front. "I feel that my morale really depends on what is happening there. When military actions weaken, I calm down. But as soon as they leave, I am very anxious again. If, within the discussion groups, everyone can address the subject of their choice, the Ukrainian recognizes that "we only talk about war".



Survivor syndrome

In front of her, Olena Taranenko, dark shawl on her shoulders, leads the psychological support groups. Unlike Kateryna, she tries not to watch the news from her country "to stay in a normal state" and "do my job properly." "The problem with this war that is going on is that people's brains can't rest," says the psychologist. According to her, people often feel better after the Monday meeting, "but the next day, at the first news of a bombed village, the women are again in great psychological distress."

Women, because the vast majority of people attending the discussion groups are female. In many cases, their husbands, requisitioned by the army, stayed. And in recent months, they have been joined by young people in the premises of the association. "Adolescents are in the same psychological states as adults," says Mariia Maksymiv, a psychologist and art therapist with the association. Adolescence is already a complicated period, so add war, uprooting, the language barrier... And imagine what it can be. »

The psychologist sees it every day: many young refugees suffer from survivor syndrome. "They are losing friends who are dying in Ukraine while they are safe in France." To help them move forward, Mariia Maksymiv has set up art therapy workshops. A subject she could talk about for hours, her eyes suddenly inhabited and the faster speech rate. The goal of his sessions: to use drawing or sculpture to release stress and bad emotions.

4,500 refugees psychologically monitored

One year after the start of the war, Olena Taranenko notes that refugee women are beginning to come to terms with what they have experienced. "I help them not to live in the past." For Mariia Maksymiv, the sessions "make it possible to no longer survive but to finally live."

In addition to these Parisian meetings, there were online psychological support sessions for Ukrainian refugees outside Paris. Not a little proud, the president of the association interrupts the conversation to list, with supporting paper, the number of people the association has helped since its creation: 4,500 have benefited from at least one follow-up consultation with a psychologist; 23,000 hours of psychological support were given; 95 focus groups were held. This help is all the more difficult because it is provided exclusively by 35 Ukrainian psychologists living in France.

The language barrier with doctors

"For a good therapeutic follow-up, it is important to have a professional who speaks the same language as the patient," says Olena Taranenko. Otherwise, he cannot explain in detail the emotional state in which he finds himself. And according to the psychologist, Ukrainians are not always well received by French health professionals. "Some people told me that the doctor told them 'yes, you're stressed what' when they couldn't sleep and their bodies weren't functioning properly," she fumes. Anna Arkhypova listens to her, her eyes laughing, then comments "she always gets carried away when we talk about these subjects!"

The president of the association confirms: it is difficult for refugees to find good health professionals. "The association is looking for general practitioners and psychiatrists to whom they should be referred," says Anna Arkhypova. Especially since the war is here to stay. Joe Biden's surprise visit to Kiev earlier this week did not reassure Kateryna Miroshkina. "We are no longer talking about negotiations with Russia, but only about war. The fact that the United States promises even more and more powerful weapons does not reassure me. I am afraid of what can still happen. »

The association Ecoute Ukraine is currently based only on donations. If you want to support them, it's here or here.

  • War in Ukraine
  • World
  • Health
  • Mental health
  • Psychology
  • Paris
  • Ile
  • Association