Amidst the conditions of a protracted war and constant psychological tension, every Ukrainian faces the need for special tools to maintain mental equilibrium. Mid-December is a symbolic time when both nature and the human psyche require silence, the completion of a cycle, and preparation for inner renewal. With this goal in mind, on December 10, 2025, the Centre for Contemporary Art of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” hosted the art therapy event: “Bird of Hope: Art Therapy as an Act of Inner Farewell and Renewal.
The event was built on a powerful interdisciplinary collaboration among three experts: Olena Ostrohliad, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts; Maryna Teslenko, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy; and Olena Kryvenko, the University’s practising psychologist. This professional synergy enabled the integration of deep artistic expression with expert psychological support, creating a space of complete emotional safety and trust for the participants. The unique combination of creative techniques and psychological facilitation helped those present find internal resources to transform anxiety into resilience, using creativity as a reliable bridge toward restoring their “Self”.
The meeting began with a tradition that is fresh in content every time – the “My Superpower” exercise. Participants, gathered in a circle, passed a ball of yarn to one another, creating a living web – a visual metaphor for social cohesion and mutual support. By verbalising their inner pillars of strength, each participant activated a sense of belonging to a community, which is critical for overcoming feelings of isolation during crises. This tuning-in phase allowed participants to feel secure and prepare for deeper individual work with their emotions.
The central part of the event focused on the image of the bird – a powerful archetype of hope, transformation, and the ability to rise above circumstances. In a psychological context, the bird embodies the pursuit of freedom and rebirth, the capacity to carry even the heaviest life experiences on its wings and turn them into wisdom. The medium chosen for this creativity was recycled cardboard, which held a specific symbolic meaning. Using recycled materials emphasised the idea of transforming the past: participants cut out bird silhouettes, giving a tangible form to memories, events, and experiences that needed to be processed and released.
The process of decorating these forms with millet, rice, and buckwheat grains became a truly meditative practice. The psychological effect of this method is based on sensory integration. Through the tactile experience of natural materials and the rhythmic application of grains to the cardboard base, participants reached a state of deep concentration. Each grain on the bird’s wings represented a fragment of life experience, transformed from an emotional burden into a valuable resource. In the creative silence of the Centre for Contemporary Art, an act of inner healing occurred in which the past was not merely left behind but reimagined as the foundation for a future flight.
Following the artistic phase, participants moved to the reflective block titled “Two Steps of My Power”, which utilised metaphorical associative cards. This method helped visualise two vectors of resilience: external support and the source of internal resources. Combining these images enabled each participant to create a personal “resource route” map that clearly identified whom and what they could rely on during the transition to the new season. This approach fostered a positive mindset during the winter period, treating it as a time for accumulating energy and patiently awaiting an “inner spring”.
Final reflections confirmed the event’s high therapeutic value. Participants shared insights into how lines, textures, and symbols enabled them to express what was challenging to put into words. For many, “Bird of Hope” became a real psychological anchor – a tool that helps one feel one’s own invincibility. This event successfully realised its goal: helping people affected by war not only to survive but to find internal sources of light and restore faith in their own strength through the power of art.
The event was held as part of the international, large-scale EU-funded 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).
We express our sincere gratitude to our partners for their invaluable support, which makes it possible to implement such vitally important initiatives that bring the light of hope and healing to those who need it most.
It is worth noting that Poltava Polytechnic lecturers are eligible to 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, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
For more detailed information regarding current internship, teaching, and academic mobility programs abroad, please get in touch with the International Relations Department (office 213-C, interoffice@nupp.edu.ua) or Poltava Polytechnic’s International Relations Coordinator – Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation, Anna Pavelieva (email: kunsite.zi@gmail.com, phone: +38-(095)-91-08-192).
