"I want to report that I am in slavery to my mother" – with these words an 18-year-old girl, who had been suffering from domestic violence at the hands of her mother for years, addressed to the Psychosocial support mobile team in the Lviv region.

According to Antonina (the girl's name has been changed for safety reasons), her mother kept her daughter at home by force, did not allow her to go out and attend school, communicate with her peers and receive medical care, which led to a significant deterioration in her health. 

"When the mobile team first arrived at the scene, it was very difficult to communicate and bring the girl out of that difficult state. When she was talking, her hands and whole body were shaking with fear, she was afraid to return home to those terrible conditions. It was necessary to calm her down and stabilise her psychological state," says psychologist Lilia Samsin.

All her life, the girl had lived in inadequate sanitary conditions, had no documents and no education appropriate to her age. She found out about the opportunity to get help from the Psychosocial support Mobile Team thanks to the Break the Circle website. 

The Mobile Teams specialists helped the girl to get free legal support, find temporary accommodation, sign a contract with a family doctor and enroll in school to get an education. 

"I was preparing to run away from home for more than six months, so that I could turn 18 and become an adult so that I could call the service to get help. Thank you very much for your help. I am happy and free," says the girl.

As of today, the girl has completed her studies externally, is living in a safe place, socialising and adapting to new living conditions. 

"We are very pleased that we were able to help the girl, who continues to keep in close touch with us. She is now living a new, interesting life. She has friends with whom she communicates and spends her free time, reads a lot, learns English, goes in for sports, likes to cook different dishes, and recently baked her first bread," says Svitlana Kalysh, case manager.
 

The Psychosocial support mobile teams in the Lviv region are supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine, in coordination with the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. The services of the mobile teams are provided thanks to the financial support of the government of the USA and implementing partner charitable foundation “Butterfly”.