It’s on the first floor of the Ukrainian Cultural Center, in the north of the 8th arrondissement of Paris. A large room with gray carpet and walls covered with posters in support of the country. There, four women are seated on black and white plastic chairs. Among them, Anna Arkhypova, Ukrainian and military psychologist by training, all dressed in white. She took refuge in France on March 8, 2022, almost three weeks following the Russian invasion, leaving her husband behind on the front lines.
Upon her arrival in the capital, the forty-year-old made an observation: her fellow refugees were suffering. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress… many and varied ailments. She therefore decided to create the Ecoute Ukraine association in April, in order to offer psychological help to her compatriots who had taken refuge in France. Since then, every Monday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., regarding twenty people meet in this room with windows covered with yellow tape to share their story and their fears.
“We only talk regarding the war”
Kateryna Miroshkina, black cap screwed on her head, does not miss a single one of these meetings. The young woman fled eastern Ukraine a few weeks following the start of the war, to reach France, a country she knew nothing regarding. When asked how she experienced her arrival in Paris, she replies “Do I have to tell the truth? “. Everyone bursts out laughing, accomplices. Kateryna struggles to let go of her phone, her manicured fingers mechanically scrolling the screen. Because if his body is no longer in the East, his thoughts have remained there. “People are dying 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 like my morale really depends on what’s going on there. When the military actions weaken, I calm down. But as soon as they leave, I am once more very anxious. If, within the support groups, everyone can address the subject of their choice, the Ukrainian recognizes that “we only talk regarding the war”.
The survivor syndrome
Facing her, Olena Taranenko, dark shawl on her shoulders, animates psychological support groups. Unlike Kateryna, she tries not to watch the news from her country “to stay in a normal state” and “to do properly [s] we work. “The problem with this lasting war is that people’s brains cannot rest,” analyzes the psychologist. According to her, people often feel better following the Monday meeting, “but the next day, at the first news of a bombed village, the women are once more in great psychological distress. »
Women, because the vast majority of people attending support groups are female. Very often, their husbands, requisitioned by the army, remained. And for the past few months, they have been joined by young people on the premises of the association. “Adolescents are in the same psychological states as adults, notes Mariia Maksymiv, psychologist and art therapist within the association. Adolescence is already a complicated period, so add the war, the uprooting, the language barrier… and imagine what it can give. »
The psychologist sees it every day: many young refugees suffer from survivor syndrome. “They lose friends who die in Ukraine while they are safe in France. To help them move forward, Mariia Maksymiv has set up art therapy workshops. A subject she might talk regarding for hours, her eyes suddenly inhabited and her speech faster. The purpose of his sessions: to use drawing or sculpture to release stress and bad emotions.
4,500 refugees psychologically monitored
A year following the start of the war, Olena Taranenko finds that the refugees are beginning to accept what they have been through. “I help them not to live in the past. For Mariia Maksymiv, the sessions “allow us 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. Quite proud, the president of the association interrupts the conversation to list, on 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 discussion groups took place. This help is all the more difficult as 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, considers Olena Taranenko. Otherwise, he cannot fully explain the emotional state he is in. And according to the psychologist, Ukrainians are not always well received by French health professionals. “Some people told me that the doctor had told them ‘yes, what are you stressed regarding?’ when they mightn’t sleep and their bodies weren’t functioning properly,” she fumes. Anna Arkhypova listens to her, with a laughing eye, then comments “she always gets carried away when we talk regarding these subjects! »
The president of the association confirms all the same: it is difficult for refugees to find good health professionals. “The association is looking for general practitioners and psychiatrists to whom to refer them,” launches Anna Arkhypova. Especially since the war is here to stay. Joe Biden’s surprise visit to kyiv earlier this week did not reassure Kateryna Miroshkina. “We are no longer talking regarding negotiations with Russia, but only regarding war. The fact that the United States promises even more numerous and powerful weapons does not reassure me. I’m afraid of what can still happen. »
