How to make a choice when the future seems uncertain? Where to find support to dare to step forward? How to open oneself to new possibilities without losing connection to oneself? On August 8, 2025, within the walls of Poltava Polytechnic (room 302-C), answers to these questions were sought through a quiet and sincere dialogue with oneself, with the help of the metaphorical cards “Windows and Doors”.
This meeting was a continuation of a series of events within the large-scale international Erasmus+ KA220-ADU project “TRUST” – Trauma of refugees in Europe: An approach through art therapy as a solidarity program for Ukraine war victims (Grant No. 2024-BE01-KA220-ADU-000257527).
The project title is decoded as follows:
TRUST
T – Trauma
R – Refugees
U – Ukraine
S – Solidarity
T – Therapy
The project is co-funded by the EU and led by the Centre Neuro Psychiatrique St-Martin from Belgium, in partnership with the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” (Ukraine), Greek Carers Network EPIONI (Greece), Fondazione Don Luigi Di Liegro (Italy), Lekama Foundation (Luxembourg), EuroPlural Project (Portugal).
Under the caring guidance of Maryna Teslenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, and Olena Kryvenko, the university's practical psychologist, the participants embarked on an inspiring journey into their own inner world. The facilitators created an atmosphere of warmth, silence, and deep reflection, where everyone could speak in their own language – the language of images, feelings, and colours. Special attention was paid to creating an inclusive space where participants with experience of forced displacement could feel safe and heard.
The session began with a conversation about how the symbols of windows and doors reflect our lives, as in times of war, these images take on a special, acute meaning. A window that was once a source of light may now be associated with danger. A door that symbolised hospitality has, for many, become a symbol of a forced farewell to home. Therefore, the first step was to restore the healing power of these metaphors. A window is our perception, observation, dreams, a look at the past or the future. A door is a choice, an action, a transition, an opportunity, and sometimes a risk. Participants explored which windows they keep open and which they keep closed, and which doors they hesitate to approach.
In the creative part, each participant worked with the metaphorical associative cards “Windows and Doors.” In art therapy, working with cards is a powerful tool as it allows bypassing rational defences and addressing the subconscious directly. For people who have experienced trauma, speaking directly about their feelings can be extremely difficult. The card, however, becomes a safe “screen” onto which one can project their pain, hopes, and fears. By choosing a “window” card, a person looked at their life as if from the outside, gaining new insights about their current situation, about what was lost, but also about what remained valuable. By choosing a “door” card, they reclaimed a sense of choice and control, which war so often takes away. It was not just a choice of a picture, but a symbolic act of reclaiming the right to decide where to move next, even if this movement was, for now, happening only in the inner world. Drawings, images, and sincere dialogues with oneself through metaphor – all of this became the canvas for personal transformation.
The culmination of the session was a discussion in a shared circle, where everyone could share their story if they felt the need. The stories that were shared were filled with deep personal meanings, sharpened by the war: someone saw a memory of a peaceful home in their “window” that gave them strength, someone found the courage to “open the door” to a new life in a new city, and someone realized that sometimes the most crucial choice is to allow oneself to “leave the door” to a painful past closed. In an art therapy group, such an exchange is incredibly healing: it shatters the feeling of isolation and brings the understanding that “I am not alone in my experiences”. The stories of some became not just an inspiration but also a confirmation of resilience for others.
The meeting concluded with warm words of blessing that became a guide for everyone: “May every new window bring you light, and may every door lead to your true self”.
Such events prove that art therapy is a powerful tool for finding inner support and making important decisions, especially in times when it seems that no choices are left. Poltava Polytechnic, together with its international partners, continues to create a space for recovery, where everyone can find the keys to their own doors.
As a reminder, the faculty of Poltava Polytechnic can participate in academic mobility and internship programs. Students can study abroad through Erasmus+ credit academic mobility grant programs for a semester or a full academic year at leading universities in Austria, Greenland, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the Czech Republic.
For more detailed information on current internship, teaching, and academic mobility programs abroad, please get in touch with the International Relations Office (office 213-C, interoffice@nupp.edu.ua) or the coordinator of international activities at the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” – Anna Pavelieva, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation (email: kunsite.zi@gmail.com, phone: +38-(095)-91-08-192).
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
