11 000 visits and 100 stories about domestic violence: results of the first week of the «It seems» platform

To speak out, share your pain, and take the first step towards healing: now Ukrainians affected by violence can do all this. The Institute of Cognitive Modeling, together with Masha Efrosinina’s Masha Foundation and the Red Cross Society of Ukraine, has launched the first Ukrainian online platform, «It seems», where victims of violence can tell their stories anonymously. During the first week, almost a hundred of them were received, most of them in the category of «Psychological violence».

During these seven days, more than 11 000 people visited the site. The vast majority are Ukrainians, but many users were also registered from other countries: Poland, Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, the United States, etc. Almost 100 people shared their stories on the platform. 

Viktor Berezenko, the founder of the Institute of Cognitive Modeling, states that most of the requests on the platform relate to psychological violence. This is quite logical because any other violence is still associated with psychological trauma.

«The first results of the platform’s work confirm that the problem, which is often hushed up by society, is too painful and, unfortunately, relevant for thousands of Ukrainians. We allowed them to express their pain on our platform. Dozens of people enter or page every minute. We want as many Ukrainians as possible to read these terrible stories and know the scale of the disaster. Our society should get rid of post-Soviet stereotypes like «be silent and endure» or «you provoked it yourself». Only the abuser is always to blame. And when our society has zero tolerance for violence, Ukraine could be called a modern civilized country,» says Viktor Berezenko.

2 000 users visited the page «Your help» with the contacts of structures that help victims of violence. On average, there are about 30 people on the site every minute. Those who need psychological help can apply for free psychological assistance on the «Tell me» platform. 

Most of the stories on the platform are about the husband’s violence against his wife. There are many reports of adults who experienced physical or sexual abuse by a close relative as children. Several men also wrote about psychological violence against themselves. Now the authors of the project examine these problems, analyzing and preparing information materials for victims so that they have a clear algorithm of actions in case of violence against them.

Anyone can share a personal story on the online platform «It seems» at any time. The message will be published after passing moderation.