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LYNC is happy to report a that a project that began 10 months earlier with just an idea, has become a complete and self-sustaining ministry.
In May 2022, LYNC piloted an innovative art therapy project for Ukrainian refugees in Bautzen, Germany, serving 144 women and teens. Answering the need for additional and deeper healing tools, the organization and partners collaborated and created a trauma healing group therapy and art therapy program that graduated 42 women.
Through donor and LYNC support, a small leadership team in Bautzen launched the “Hope UA” Women’s Club, which met twice per month in its first season, concluding with over 190 members.
Ten months after launching, the program has evolved into a flourishing women’s platform with three core pillars—therapeutic, cultural, and spiritual—each led by local women!
Moreover, the “Hope UA” Women’s Club has recently become financially self-sustaining. Therefore, LYNC has handed over all responsibility to the local leaders to work independent of the organization.
Project manager and LYNC partner Abigail Widynski said that as the team anticipates trauma tools training involving 24 psychologists and frontline workers for children in Ukraine in early November, they are motivated by the healing observed in our foundational projects in Bautzen with our Ukrainian refugees.
“From the humanitarian aid perspective, I could never have imagined the speed in which local ownership would be achieved, especially within a mental health project context,” Widynski adds.
Post-traumatic growth began with providing four Saturdays of art therapy to women and teens. Now, the women have a blossoming community supporting one another and continuing to heal.