Olena’s husband had been fighting in the thick of the battles, and then all contact was lost. Weeks of uncertainty followed, stretching out like years. At first, the military told her he was “missing in action”. These words cut deeper than any truth, because they offered neither hope nor the chance to say goodbye. Support at home was scarce. Her relatives tried to help, but no one truly understood what it felt like to live in constant fear of the worst.
Then the moment every wife dreads happened. She saw him, not at home, but in a video posted on a russian Telegram channel, among a group of prisoners. It was a shock and a pain that took her breath away, but it was also a fragile relief: he was alive. His status was changed to “in captivity”, but this didn’t make her life easier. On the contrary, her days turned into an uninterrupted waiting period, and her own wishes and feelings faded into the background.
Olena realised she could not cope alone. Her first step was attending a group session with a “Circle of Your Own” psychologist. It was a space where she did not need to explain anything. She was surrounded by women who understood her immediately, because their stories were similar to hers. Here she could cry or remain silent and still be heard. This circle became her first island of safety.
“I came to this project asking for help, but I did not know what to expect. I felt that something was missing, that I had my own pain and my own experiences. But when I started working with the psychologist, other issues surfaced, and it turned out they had been with me since childhood. It required work on myself. But I coped, and now I remember that it happened; it is part of my experience, but I no longer cry about it. This change filled me and gave me strength,” Olena shares.
When a three-day Forum Theatre workshop was announced, Olena was frightened. What stage, what theatre, when everything inside felt frozen? But something within her urged her to try.
Forum Theatre became a turning point. During exercises and rehearsals, she suddenly discovered she could be not only Olena, the one who waits, but someone entirely different. During the performance of “Invisible Scars”, she was given the role of a male volunteer. And a transformation took place. By playing him, she unexpectedly saw everything through his eyes and felt his motivation, fear and strength. It was not simply acting. It was a profound experience that helped her release accumulated pain and feel alive again.
This inner shift immediately affected her outer world. After the performance, Olena, who had shown such talent on stage, was invited to join the local amateur theatre. Within weeks, she made her debut in the comedy “On the First Cuckoo”, laughing and bringing laughter to others.
The theatre was only the beginning. She gained the confidence she had long lacked. Previously unemployed, she gathered the courage to attend a job interview and successfully secured a position at the Administrative Services Centre in her community. Now she focuses not on what people might say, but on herself and her two daughters. The self-calming techniques she learned in the “Circle of Your Own” groups have become an integral part of her daily routine. She says she has finally started sleeping normally again.
Olena’s story has become an example for other women in her community. Working at the ASC and performing in the local theatre, she proves every day that even in the darkest times, it is possible to find light and new strength within oneself. Her experience has inspired women in the “Circle of Your Own” group, showing that participation in the project offers not just temporary relief but a genuine tool for profound life changes.
The project “Circle of Resilience: Psychological and Social Support for Women in the Communities of the Oleksandriia District” was implemented by the NGO “Vazhlyva” (which fittingly means ‘Important’ in Ukrainian) across three communities in the Kirovohrad region (Oleksandriia, Pryiutivka, and Popelnyastivka) from May to August 2025. A total of 294 people, almost all of whom were women and girls, participated in 16 project events.
The comprehensive support model included in-depth psychological work, with nine “Circle of Your Own” group sessions for 58 unique participants and 37 individual consultations for 15 women. It also included innovative therapy through Forum Theatre, educational workshops and strategic networking during the final (Non)Forum.
Thanks to its inclusive approach, the project supported the most vulnerable groups, including family members of active-duty soldiers, prisoners of war, the deceased and the missing. It also engaged 27 representatives of civil society organisations and 13 representatives of local authorities. Importantly, the project successfully reached both urban and rural women.