Over 5,000,000 hryvnias from Credit Agricole to support children affected by the war

Recently, Credit Agricole, together with the “Children of Heroes” Charity Fund, implemented an extremely important charity initiative. The bank allocated over 5,000,000 hryvnias to conduct three shifts of the psychological rehabilitation camp "I am Da Vinci", which provides children of the war who have lost one or both parents with a chance for emotional recovery and a new vision for the future.

From January 20 to February 3, 2025, a psychological rehabilitation camp was organized for the wards of the “Children of Heroes”. During two weeks, 60 children aged 6 to 16 from different regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sumy, Zhytomyr and other cities, underwent an intensive program of rehabilitation and mental health support.

“Support of children and families affected by the war is among our priorities as part of the CSR We Care. This charitable initiative holds a special place in our hearts as it helps children to cope with the excruciatingly hard stage of their lives. Sadly, there are no powers that could bring their parents back to life, but we are doing our best to promote children’s recovery and rehabilitation. With consistent support from the Group since the war broke out, we donated UAH 150 million to charity. It is Credit Agricole’s contribution to recovery”, - shares Viktoriia Torianyk, Head of Brand and Communication Department at Credit Agricole.

The camp was held in Zakarpattia region, near the village of Ust-Chorne, in the protected area of the picturesque Carpathians. The unique location of the hotel complex enabled the children to feel the harmony of nature, enjoy the mountain views and boost their health in the fresh air.

The experts followed the British program “Children and Bereavement”, which aims to stabilize a child's emotional state, to promote psychoeducation and adaptation to new life conditions. Every day the children participated in psychological trainings, art therapy and film therapy. In addition, 15 individual counseling sessions were held at the camp, which helped to better engage children in the group activities and facilitate work with traumatic experiences.

Along with the mental health program, the children had the opportunity to play sports – football, badminton, do morning exercises, and participate in various excursions. In particular, they hiked to the Mount of Love, visited the city of Mukachevo and walked along the ecological trail near the Crystal Fountain, where they could see rare plants.

Every evening, the camp counselors held “Good Night” meetings, where the children and their mentors discussed the day's events, shared their emotions and supported each other. The program paid special attention to film therapy: after watching movies with profound psychological content, the children and their mentors discussed what they had seen, analyzed the behavior of the characters, and drew important conclusions.

At the beginning of the program, most children had high levels of anxiety, emotional instability, difficulties communicating, as well as the feeling of guilt, fear of loss recurring, and other psychological problems. Some children exhibited aggressive or provocative behaviors, while others avoided open expression of emotions or showed excessive attachment to adults.

However, thanks to the integrated approach to working with children, a significant improvement in their emotional state could be noted at the end of the camp. The children became more open, participated more actively in the group activities, expressed their emotions more easily and were learning to manage them. A significant number of participants reduced their anxiety levels, began to interact better with their peers and feel more confident.

It should be noted that this is the first of three camp retreats funded by the partner. There are two more stages of the program ahead, during which even more children will be able to benefit from the needed mental health support and recovery. We will continue informing you about the progress of the subsequent retreats and their results.