2023 BEARR Trust Annual Conference Panel member information
First panel – moderated by Megan Bick, BEARR Trustee
| Panel member name | Nataliya Shmurikova |
| Organisation name | Centre for Strategic Initiatives NGO (CSI NGO) |
| Organisation location | Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine |
| Organisation start date | 18.12.2002 |
| Organisation size (no. of staff and volunteers) | Up to 10 people (2 permanent staff) |
| Beneficiaries of the organisation’s work | At present – internally displaced people in the Khmelnytslyi oblast, volunteers, families of military combatants. |
| What humanitarian aid does your organisation provide? | We supply families of IDPs and military combatants, and members of the village communities with seeds, gardening tools, etc. We also support them with organising therapeutic activities for village children and youth. |
| What type of therapeutic support does your organisation provide? | For the beneficiaries we help organise different therapeutic activities: usually we let the village communities decide on the type of activities they organise for their members. |
| Are you working with any other organisations or with local/regional authorities, either in your region or in other areas? | We work with local government (Khmelnytskyi Municipal Government), with community governments (united territorial communities), with village councils (starostat) in Khmelnytskyi oblast. We also cooperate with local NGOs. |
| What funding have you received to support your work providing: | The BEARR TrustKhmelnytskyi Municipal Government (Community Initiatives program)Public Institution “Ekoagros”, LithuaniaPrivate donations |
| Biography | I have been living and working in Khmelnytskyi, Western Ukraine, all my life. Since 1999 I have been associated with NGO work and volunteer activities in socio-economic and cultural sectors. In 2006 I became the Head of the Board of the Centre for Strategic Initiatives NGO, simultaneously working in the Khmelnytskyi National University as a Teacher of English. Since February 2022 (the war) we changed our priorities to helping internally displaced families who in came in hundreds to Khmelnytskyi oblast. The staff and volunteers concentrated our efforts on assisting them to survive on land in the rural areas. |
| Panel member name | Lyudmila Byts |
| Organisation name | NGO FRIENDLY SPACE (FS) |
| Organisation location | Dubno, Rivne region |
| Organisation start date | April 2022 |
| Organisation size (no. of staff and volunteers) | 12 |
| Beneficiaries of the organisation’s work | |
| What humanitarian aid does your organisation provide? | Support for families with children with food, hygiene products, clothes, and shoes. |
| What type of therapeutic support does your organisation provide? | We created an art space. We hold creative, family evenings, and workshops on various topics;Clay therapy;Making of individual bags;Painting of natural materials;Weaving, fine motor skills, communication;Motivational meetings with volunteers. |
| Are you working with any other organisations or with local/regional authorities? | We actively work with all volunteer centres in our territory, with local social services, sometimes we contact entrepreneurs. |
| What funding have you received to support your work providing? | We thank all partners:Humanitarian aid (clothes, toys) from KentRelief (England)Assistance in providing IDPs (with bedding, dishes, linen, food, chemicals) from European exchange, NGO (Germany)Therapeutic meetings, school supplies, tools for creativity from BEARR TRUST (England) |
| Biography | Lyudmila Byts was born on April 23, 1976. I am married, I have 2 children, I work as a sales manager. Since the beginning of the war, we became active and organised an initiative group, we helped IDPs who fled the war, we met them, housed them, clothed them, and fed them. Now we support a family with children. Thank you for your support. |
| Panel member name | Maksym Maslennikov |
| Organisation name | Reconstruction of Ukraine |
| Organisation location | Dnipro, Ukraine |
| Organisation start date | 24.02.2022 |
| Organisation size (no. of staff and volunteers) | 16 people |
| Beneficiaries of the organisation’s work | IDPs, people living in 20km zone near the war line |
| What humanitarian aid does your organisation provide? | Food, Power generators and storages, water filtering systems, hygiene, water, construction materialsWe also provide accommodation, retraining and employment for up to 3000 IDPs in Dnipro and other regions. |
| What type of therapeutic support does your organisation provide? | Psychological support by partners, revival camp for volunteers by the team. |
| Are you working with any other organisations or with local/regional authorities, either in your region or in other areas? | Yes, there are many partners: Regional war administration of Dnipro, Kherson. Dnipro city administration. Organizations:Save Peace in ua, Ministry of Good Deeds, RozGi, Mriya Ukraine, Talent, RCC, USAID, ACTED, UNICEF, UNHCR, Nova Ukraine, JCI, and many more |
| What funding have you received to support your work providing: humanitarian aid?therapeutic support? | Aid from partners BEARR TRUST (for emergency expenses for IDPs and Respite for Volunteers) |
| Biography | 2022 till present day: co-founder and manager of charity fund Reconstruction of Ukraine (full time). RoU was established to support 3000 IDPs in Dnipro and deliver emergency support to people in Kherson Region.Pre-war: 20 years of top management in sales and business development in different sectors, mostly Ukrainian companies. 7 years in IT (top management, sales and bizdev). 2018-2023 active JCI member, 2022 national President of JCI Ukraine. |
Second panel – moderated by Michael Rasell, BEARR Trustee
| Panel member name | Tamara Lomadze |
| Organisation name | Charitable Fund for the rehabilitation and social adaptation of citizens affected by the war in Ukraine «Come Back! |
| Organisation location | Odesa, Ukraine |
| Organisation start date | 11.08.2023 |
| Organisation size (no. of staff and volunteers) | 8 staff and 8 volunteers |
| Beneficiaries of the organisation’s work | Displaced families, families of veterans (women, children, parents); veterans, incl. from the LGBT+ community, disadvantaged and large families, pensioners, single parents, socially disadvantaged families. |
| What humanitarian aid does your organisation provide? | Humanitarian assistance, incl. food and non-food items, psychological and legal support, help with social adaptation |
| What type of therapeutic support does your organisation provide? | For beneficiaries: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), work with trauma, depression, suicide, addiction, victims of violence, incl. sexual violence; art therapy (drawing, glueing), music therapy, storytelling, games.Meditation and relaxation incl. with live music, individually and in groups.Physical rehabilitation For staff:Introspective CBT, group therapy, art therapy, individual psychological support |
| Are you working with any other organisations or with local/regional authorities, either in your region or in other areas? | We work with regional and municipal social services, and with charitable and public organisations: Winds of Changes, NEXT, Faith Hope and Love, Eastern Ukrainian Centre for Protection of Women, and Consequences of War. |
| What funding have you received to support your work | Private donations, donations from charity events, and a 3-month grant from INGO Public Health Alliance |
| Biography | I trained in psychology in St Petersburg and have been a practising psychologist for 20 years, mainly in relationship work and personal development. In 2014 I was invited to work with Médecins sans Frontières in Donetsk region, after which I decided to start working in the charitable sector. After the full-scale invasion in 2022 I started dealing with trauma and had further training for work with people traumatised by war. I am qualified to provide assistance from psychological first aid to full-scale PTSD. |
| Panel member name | Reima Ana Maglajlic |
| Organisation name | University of Sussex |
| Organisation location | UK |
| Biography | Reima Ana Maglajlic is a Reader in Social Work at the University of Sussex. From 1999-2007 she worked in one of her home countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, supporting the post-war reform of mental health and social care services in this country. This included support for the development of peer-run initiatives in mental health. Between 2019-2023, she was a principal investigator for a study co-produced with people who experienced distress during and after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study focused on people’s own understanding of their distress, and which support they find most helpful. Online profile: https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p330276-reima-ana-maglajlic |
| Panel member name | Paul Niland |
| Organisation name | Lifeline Ukraine |
| Organisation location | Nationwide, all of Ukrane |
| Organisation start date | 14/10/2019 |
| Organisation size (no. of staff and volunteers) | 25 |
| Beneficiaries of the organisation’s work | Any Ukrainian struggling with some kind of emotional crisis. |
| What humanitarian aid does your organisation provide? | We save lives. We are the national suicide prevention hotline, and the only suicide prevention hotline in the history of independent Ukraine. |
| What type of therapeutic support does your organisation provide? | To beneficiaries, or help-seekers, we provide emotional and psychological support in real time, 24/7.To our staff we support them by ensuring that our constantly evolving training programme helps them have the tools that they need to work with any kind of case that presents to them in their work, more on this in my presentation. In addition tot his we have an independent Supervisor who works with the team on both a group and individual level. |
| Are you working with any other organisations or with local/regional authorities, either in your region or in other areas? | We have Memoranda of Understanding in place with many other organisations working in the sphere of mental health in Ukraine. Most notably, Lifeline Ukraine is recognised as an essential part of the national mental health infrastructure inn Ukraine by inclusion in First Lady Olena Zelenskaya’s “”How Are You” initiative. |
| What funding have you received to support your work providing: | We have been the recipient of grants from the British Embassy in Ukraine, then from the US State Department via IREX, and then also through IREX we secured a grant from USAID. In addition to other fundraising initiatives being undertaken, we have also received grants from the Embassies of Ireland and Australia in Ukraine. |
| Biography | Paul Niland is an Irish businessman and journalist who has lived in Ukraine for twenty years. In that period, he has been involved in various businesses such as attracting FDI investment into the country and publishing. He established Lifeline Ukraine at the request of the then-Minister of Health of Ukraine, Dr. Ulana Suprun. |
