Why Bring MMFT to Ukraine?
In early 2023, I was approached by Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and Forest Glade Veterans Hospital—Ukraine’s national center for excellence for PTSD—in collaboration with the Ukrainian Ministries of Health and Veterans. They approached me because of MMFT’s robust empirical research base among stressed and traumatized populations.
By the end of the war, more than 3 million veterans will need of recovery from combat—and more than 3.5 million Ukrainians are likely to develop a mental health disorder. The Ukrainian health care system cannot meet this immense need. For this reason, our Ukrainian collaborators want to empower Ukrainians with self-regulation skills to support themselves as much as possible.
How Are We Helping?
The Sounds True Foundation and I have given a royalty-free licensed for the MMFT Online Course to the Ukrainian Catholic University. Forest Glade is leading the effort to translate and dub the online course into Ukrainian, while UCU is building the technical interface to host the course on their online platform. Once translated, Ukrainian MMFT Online will be available to all Ukrainians, anywhere, for free.
Our Ukrainian collaborators also want us to train Ukrainian-speaking MMFT Trainers from several sectors, including first responders, health care providers, veterans, and community and business leaders. To start this effort, in early 2024, we taught the first 8-week MMFT course, live with simultaneous translation, on Zoom. We worked with a cohort of 44 participants located all around Ukraine—including almost a quarter working at or near the frontlines.
This video shares reflections from some of the course participants.
We Could Use Your Help!
We still seek funding to complete the Ukrainian MMFT Online course launch on UCU’s platform. We also seek funding to update, adapt, and translate the training materials for the MMFT train-the-trainer certification program, as a first step to running the trainer certification sequence in Ukraine. These materials will establish curriculum and assessment tools for future MMFT Ukrainian Trainers. Creating a cadre of Ukrainian-speaking MMFT Trainers will allow the MMFT program to become self-sustaining in Ukraine.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to this effort in Ukraine, you can donate in two ways:
- Contribute online to the Sounds True Foundation here
- Mail a paper check to the Sounds True Foundation, PO Box 1020 Lafayette, CO 80026. Please be sure to write “MMFT” on your check.
We appreciate any and all support that you can offer for this project—no amount is too small. Thank you for your generosity to the Ukrainian people!
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