The essential and delicate task of calming youngsters who have been traumatized by Russia’s war falls to Bice, an American pit bull terrier who works in Ukraine.
This Thursday, the energetic 8-year-old gray dog showed up on time to a rehabilitation facility outside the Ukrainian capital, prepared to begin his tasks.
A dozen kids were sitting around a table listening to a psychologist named Oksana Sliepova as Bice waited in the corridor outside of what appeared to be a school classroom with some books and paintings on the walls.
“Who has a dog?,” she asked and several hands raised at once while the space filled with shouts of “Me, me, me!”.
One child named his dog Stitch; another named his dog “Tank,” adding that he had five dogs overall but forgot their names altogether. Everyone started giggling at once.
The seven girls and nine boys, whose ages range from a 2-year-old toddler to an 18-year-old young woman, initially appear to be students enjoying themselves in class. However, they have unique tales to tell. Some of them saw how Russian forces attacked their hometowns and brutalized their family members. Some of them are the children, grandchildren, siblings, or sisters of troops who died or were killed in battle on the front lines.
They meet at the Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation, a government-run community facility where those who have experienced traumatic events following Russia’s invasion in February can receive support. Anyone who has been impacted by the war in any manner receives frequent psychiatric counselling from staff.
They have previously worked with horses, but now they are including assistance from a different canine friend: therapy dogs.
The facility was founded in 2000 as part of an initiative to provide psychological treatment to persons affected, directly or indirectly, by the explosion at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl in 1986. It is situated in Boyarka, a neighborhood about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of Kyiv.
Now the emphasis is on those impacted by the fighting. The two-story building is currently one of the few locations with light and heat during a time when certain sections are without electricity as a result of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Sliepova cagily inquired if they wanted to see someone after the children had assembled, some of them were sporting beautiful blue or red Christmas hats. Answer: “Yes, they did,” was the reply. The door slid open. The children’s cheeks shone. They grinned.
Bice, the tail-wagging therapist, then entered.
The dog’s owner and handler, Darina Kokozei, invited the kids to come one at a time and ask him to perform a few tricks. He sat. He got to his rear legs and stood. He either rolled over or extended a paw. A group hug and some delectable sweets for him are given after that.
Without ever barking, Bice let everyone to pet and cuddle him for more than 30 minutes. It was as if there was nothing else to worry about, like, say, a war destroying their nation, at that precise time.
This is the first time that Sliepova has worked with a dog as part of her therapies. But, she said, “I read a lot of literature that working with dogs, with four-legged rehabilitators, helps children reduce stress, increase stress resistance, and reduce anxiety.”
The kids did not seem stressed out, but of course the reality is still out there.
She observed how some children are scared of loud noises, like when someone closes a window or when they hear the sound of a jet. Some drop to the floor or start asking whether there’s a bomb shelter close.
Among the children were a brother and sister from Kupyansk, a city in the eastern region of Kharkiv, who witnessed Russian soldiers storming into their home with machine guns, grabbing their grandfather, putting a bag on his head and beating him, Sliepova said.
“Each child is psychologically traumatized in different ways,” she said.
The moms of some of the kids remained almost all the time seated along one of the walls, watching and listening at distance. When Bice came, some took pictures of their children.
Lesya Kucherenko was here with her 9-year-old son, Maxim. She said she can’t stop thinking about the war and what could happen to her oldest son, a 19-year-old paratrooper fighting in the town of Bakhmut in the the eastern Donetsk region — one of the most active fronts these days.
Maxim smiled as he plays with Bice, but he was always checking on his mom and turned his head around to see her every once in a while.
Kucherenko said sometimes she breaks into tears when thinking about her soldier son. Right before this session, she got a call from him. He told her that he was fine, and by just remembering that, she started crying. The next second, Maxim was there, asking why.
“You see? He’s comforting me — not me him,” she said.
As for the comforting canine, what’s the best message that Bice offers the kids?
Owner Kokozei needs to think for only a couple of seconds, and replies: “Freedom.”
“Freedom from problems, and happiness,” she adds.
Source: The Mining Journal
