In connection with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, in May 2020, the Institute of Cognitive Modeling with the support of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Red Cross of Ukraine launched a free online psychological support platform «Tell me».

Online platform team practices cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which is one of the most wide-spread forms of psychotherapeutic care for people with various psychological issues.

The main stages of the campaign:

1. Launch of the online platform «Tell me», where anyone can apply for free psychological help provided by volunteer psychologists.
2. Launch of an all-Ukrainian information campaign (outdoor and digital).
3. Creation of resources «Psychological support» in Viber and Telegram providing psychological advice.
4. Development and launch of the «Friend» chatbot together with the Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy to provide recommendations on how to deal with extremely difficult episodes.

Results for the first year of work:

•   10,000 applications received and more than 23,000 consultation hours conducted.
•   Almost 500 psychologists expressed their desire to join the project.
•   500 requests for psychological help were received from citizens of Belarus after the protests in August 2020.
•   Platform experts advised entrepreneurs on the website Diia.
•   In the first 5 months of the launch of the information campaign, it has reached more than 15 million people.
•   The case «Tell me: coronavirus as a chance» became a finalist in the marketing communications award Effie Awards Ukraine 2020. 

Psychological support platform «Tell me» during the war:

• 630 psychologists are involved in the project (330 since the beginning of the war)
• During the project, 23,000 applications were completed (6,000 since the beginning of the war)
• Since the beginning of the war, more than 40,000 people have used the «Friend» chatbot, and it is now available in Ukrainian and English.

The team

The project team consists of highly qualified volunteers — psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists. Over the 2 years of the platform’s existence, the ICM has managed to form a community where volunteer specialists improve their skills: attend interviews and supervisions, thematic webinars, exchange experience with other project participants.

Channel «Psychological support» during the war

Since the beginning of the war, the channel «Psychological support» has become a source of useful longreads for refugees, for people who are experiencing loss, are depressed, cannot realize what is going on, cannot cope with the situation. All materials were developed by qualified psychologists.

Creating content for the channel during the war

The Institute of Cognitive Modeling team began working as a communications consultant for the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland during russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as for the «Crisis Coordination Center» created on its basis. 

Its purpose was to assist in resolving key issues and quick response to wartime challenges.

The joint work began on March 17, 2022, and on March 21, 2022, the first online briefing of Ambassador Andriy Deschytsya took place on the FB page of the Embassy.

The Institute of Cognitive Modeling customized from scratch the system of daily briefings of the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland, the signal distribution matrix, as well as formulated the key theses for the messaging boxes.

To date, more than 50 online briefings of the embassy have been conducted.

The system developed by the ICM team helped to systematize a number of communication processes directly in the diplomatic institution, ​​as well as increased interest in the work of the Embassy and consulates of Ukraine in Poland among Ukrainians and citizens of Poland.

The Crisis Media Center at the Embassy provides a platform for a broad and constructive dialogue for international delegations and friends of Ukraine from around the world.

The issues the Crisis Coordination Center deals with are:

•  the attraction and logistics of international humanitarian aid,
•  interaction with volunteer funds in Poland, Ukraine and all over the world,
•  communication on the activities of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland,
•  support of Ukrainian consular institutions in Poland,
•  solution of coordination issues, etc.

The Crisis Center also has a HOTLINE, which Ukrainian citizens and representatives of international organizations can call for consultations: +48 790 187 172.

The Institute for Cognitive Modeling, together with the Masha Foundation by Masha Efrosinina and Ukrainian Red Cross Society, joined forces and on February 2, 2021, announced the launch of the all-Ukrainian educational campaign to counter violence «It seems».

• Form the belief for all victims that violence should not be tolerated

• Develop general public understanding that domestic violence is not a private matter of those involved, but a common problem, the solution of which concerns everyone

• Raise awareness of victims about the algorithm of actions, once a violent event has occurred

• Form a social disapproval of cases of violence

The team of the Institute for Cognitive Modeling has developed a communication strategy to overcome the problem of domestic violence.

The main stages of the campaign:

• Launch of an online platform «It seems» in the format of a diary, on the pages of which victims of violence can tell their stories anonymously or read the stories of those who are also going through a difficult moment.
• Creation of the «Stop Abuse Ukraine» community in Viber with information about the situation with violence in Ukraine and the world, its varieties, ways of manifestation, as well as hotline numbers.
• Launch of an outdoor campaign in April 2021 calling for not to be silent about the fact of domestic violence.

• Development of a series of thematic visuals on the eve of the boxing match between Oleksandr Usyk and British Anthony Joshua.

• Launch of a digital campaign against domestic violence #ItDoesn´tSeem together with StarLightMedia and with the support of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine.

The campaign brought together 10 videos in which Masha Efrosinina, the ambassador of the «It seems» project, and other famous people read the stories of the victims from the «It seems» platform and called for entering 2022 without violence.

• Finding hotlines as well as resource contacts for receiving necessary assistance

• Sharing your own story anonymously

The stories of the project «‎Ukraine on Fire» on Instagram and Twitter are based on the stories of 27-year-old Katya from the besieged Mariupol. The girl embodies the collective image of a Ukrainian woman, in front of whom the Russian army commits bloody crimes against humanity. Katya becomes the voice of thousands of Ukrainians – silent witnesses of the inhumane actions of the occupiers in Mariupol, Bucha, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Melitopol and other Ukrainian cities.

A few days before the russian attack, Iryna came to Mariupol to help her mother-in-law, who was seriously ill. She, her husband and 10 years old son were no longer able to leave the besieged city.

The war caught the family for the second time – in 2014 they fled the war in Donbass.

From the first days in the city, there were long queues in supermarkets. Then the stores started being robbed. People grabbed not only food, but also alcohol and household items.

Water was the first to disappear. Used water from the heating systems of the porches. Learned how to do «alchemy» on a campfire, turning technical water into drinking water.

One night during the shelling, felt the house jumped up. An air bomb hit the neighboring 14 floors building. Half of the house disappeared, a nearby kiosk flew into the sky and hung on a tree. After that, when we heard the roar of the plane, we were immediately hiding.

One day, a plane was flying. It dropped a bomb on a drama theater, where people were hiding. On the pavement next to it, «Children» was written in capital white letters. It was a direct hit. Only those who were under the stage survived. Few. If not for aviation, Mariupol would have survived.

There were days when we did not leave the basement at all, due to heavy shelling. One day, everyone in the basement got sick with rotavirus. Children first, then adults.

Mostly people were dying from shrapnel wounds, while standing in queue for water or cooking at home. This is how a man from a neighboring entrance died, when he went out for water. He has been laying there with the teapot. For so, so long.

It is impossible to count the total number of dead in Mariupol. Nobody counted anyone. Did not cover and did not hide immediately, did not collect documents. People were just laying on the streets, and we were passing them by.

«I used to think that it’s not scary to die, and that perhaps this is not our last reincarnation. But in Mariupol, I realized that I want to live. I really wished no one to die».

Iryna and her son went abroad, her husband joined the army. 

«Mariupol is an open sore in the heart of every Ukrainian. Is it possible to believe that something like this can happen in the 21st century? But it happened. And now this is our reality. Cruelty, cynicism and hatred. And tens of thousands of ruined lives…

Now the occupiers are demolishing the destroyed houses and trying to obliterate the traces of crimes. The first commissions consisting of collaborators and the Ministry of Emergency Affairs of Russia went bypassing homes. People were warned about eviction, but Mariupol residents continue to live even in the entrances with terrible consequences of the war, as in this photo».

Creating content for the channels

Project on social media

A special project dedicated to the main achievements, events and important discoveries of independent Ukraine in a historical retrospect. After all, the face of the state is primarily its people, Ukrainians, their scientific achievements, achievements in politics, sports, art.

The invention of a liquid scalpel and a phasagraph, a kinescope and rays that formed the basis of the modern «X-ray», the design of a tram and the first helicopter, the first space flight, the strongest people of the planet and mighty athletes, Cossacks and kobzars, peaceful revolutionaries, world known craftswomen, the first computer in continental Europe and much more. All this is about the Ukrainians and thanks to the Ukrainians. The indisputable fact is the genius, freedom loving and originality of our people, whose representatives do their work conscientiously every day: behind a microscope in the laboratory, in camouflage on the battlefield, with a scalpel in the hospital or with a pointer in their hand at school. And every day they prove the veracity of the proverb that the Cossack Nation has no end.

30 years of independence flew by like a flash, and enriched our history with a considerable number of new phenomena. If we slow down a little and analyse, we will see that the events of previous centuries have become not only a booster of historical processes – the echo of centuries is the guide of the present. This hypothesis formed the basis of the project.

ICM founder Dmytro Tsarenko: «On the project’s website, we were not only able to tell about 30 outstanding achievements of Ukrainians over 30 years of independence, but also proved that history is cyclical. It is the understanding of cyclical patterns, the focus on progress and respect for the past that teach us how to behave in the future. We hope that our country will only multiply its achievements, and every year we will be able to replenish the national treasury of victories already collected by our Institute».

Instagram page of the project publishes daily the most important, emotional events that took place during the day in the struggle of Ukrainians for their freedom and sovereignty. The project is available in three languages:

• Ukrainian,
• Russian,
• English.

Main categories of Instagram page:

• Live – photos and videos from the scene
• Numbers – main numbers of the war
• Art – shared album of drawings of users
• Tweets – the most popular and most important tweets from people from all over the world
• War Crimes – crimes committed by Russia during the war

Creating content for the channels

Project on social media