LOZOVA DISTRICT, KHARKIV REGION, UKRAINE – For Iryna, 33, living in difficult conditions with no gas or electricity was one thing. She could even handle her husband’s joblessness and regular alcohol abuse. But then the violent attacks started.

‘I don’t remember the first time [my husband] beat me. Only the pain, shame, and tears – that’s all I remember,’ says Iryna, a mother of three boys.

UNFPA mobile teams are bringing psychological support to women like Iryna in parts of Ukraine, where the on-going conflict in the east of the country has exacerbated the problem of gender-based violence.

Iryna was born to a big Roma family in a small village in Dnipropetrovsk region. She relocated frequently with her family to various towns and villages until she married Serhiy and moved into his home.

In addition to becoming very aggressive when drinking, Serhiy did not allow Iryna to work or look for a job; he even kept her from traveling to another region in order to register her children. Like many victims of domestic violence, Iryna was ashamed of what was happening to her, convinced that the attacks would stop if she could only be a better wife. But her patience ran out when Serhiy beat her older son when the boy tried to protect his mother from one of his father’s attacks. This was the last straw for Iryna, who called the police and a local UNFPA mobile team, which provided her with psychological support and helped enable her children to attend a rehabilitation course in another region.

‘The difficult economic situation which is badly exacerbated by the ongoing fighting and limited culture of dialogue lead to frequent conflict situations in families,’ says Dmytro Bylkiv, the leader of one of UNFPA’s mobile teams in Ukraine. ‘Our work is focused on preventing [violent] situations and on finding solutions. The most important thing is to give hope and to convince people that all conflicts are solvable, while giving out information on public organisations, services, and structures that can help.’

UNFPA mobile teams bring psychosocial support to places where such services were never provided before, allowing people to receive help without leaving their homes. © Maks Levin/UNFPA Ukraine

UNFPA mobile teams, each consisting of two psychologists and one social worker, have been operating in the five conflict-affected regions of eastern Ukraine since 1 November 2015. The mobile approach enables psychologists to reach people where they are, even in remote and distant areas. And these doctors work closely with service providers, allowing them to use a complex, integrated approach when helping people.