Defender of Mariupol, former prisoner, and now trainer for post-traumatic growth of the Heart of Azovstal, Alexander Didur, during a speech at the Kiev Security Forum, emphasized the need for state support for initiatives aimed at restoring veterans after war and captivity. This is stated in a message on the forum website.
According to him, the main element of effective assistance is the “peer to peer” principle, because it is people with combat experience who best understand those who return from the front or from captivity.
“Who, if not a veteran, can understand a veteran? This is the meaning of this “peer-to-peer” approach. Frankly, most veterans avoid working with civilian psychologists, because they believe that they do not have such experience and knowledge,” Didur emphasized.
He said that the team of Rinat Akhmetov’s project “Heart of Azovstal” works with military personnel returning from captivity, however, to expand this work, state support is needed and the involvement of more veterans as trainers. He paid special attention to the importance of working with defenders immediately after release.
“It is extremely important not to miss this moment at the beginning, when a person is just returning and needs comprehensive support,” Didur noted.
According to him, we are talking about systemic assistance, which provides not only psychological support, but also medical rehabilitation, restoration of documents and further integration into civilian life. This lays the foundation for further post-traumatic growth of veterans.
