Today I would like to share with the PACES community some stories from our first round of OpSAFE camps in Ukraine. OperationSAFE is an evidence-based, community-run program that has been used in countries around the world to help children recover from trauma after disasters and conflict.

Children spend three hours a day with their peers, the volunteer leader, and the larger group of children and leaders in the camp. Over the week, the camp emphasizes five themes with the children: safety, calming, hope, self and community efficacy, and connection.

After three days of working with the mothers on post-traumatic stress, they invited me to take a walk with them to feed the horses. We climbed a hill behind the center in Romania where they have been staying since they evacuated from the region around Odessa.

I just finished our second training in Poland and will fly out soon to Romania. This training was all in Ukrainian. Let me tell you about the inspiring trainees that attended. Some came from refugee centers in Poland, others traveled from Ukraine to receive the training. Many of them were from areas that are now destroyed or under Russian control They all regularly work with children and are doing their best to help them in the midst of very uncertain times. They have now earned their...

Ukrainian Child Refugees Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine over 5.6 millions refugees have fled the fighting with over 3M going to Poland and another 800K to Romania. In Poland 50% of these refugees are children and in Romania it is 35%. This community at PACEs Connection knows all about trauma and the effects ACEs can have on child development so I will focus on describing what we are doing about it. OpSAFE International has been working with mass trauma for the last fourteen years...