Personal Report: Fact finding visit to Lviv, Ukraine, 11th – 15th April 2026.
As an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who was diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and subsequently received 5 years of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) treatment, I was deeply impressed by the people and organisations I had the privilege to observe and meet in Ukraine, April 2026.
All in the vicinity of Lviv, we visited the Unbroken military hospital, the Galychyna Rehabilitation Centre and The Hab and Fierce Calm rehabilitation and reintegration organisations.
It was an honour to meet and spend time with Lee Watson at Fierce Calm, Yuliya Denysova at Fierce Calm, the Galychyna Rehabilitation Centre and The Hab, Serhiy Titarenko at the Hab, as well as the leadership at the Unbroken military hospital in Lviv. But what was especially impressive, was how well integrated and mutually strengthening these organisations are to one another, handling the physically and mentally wounded from initial, life-saving treatment all the way through to rehabilitation and community reintegration.
From a personal perspective, I was likewise impressed by the sheer range of treatments for PTSD on offer, encompassing now well-established therapies like CBT and Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) - but also pioneering treatments such as Biofeedback, evidence-based Yoga Therapy and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) via 'Flow' electrical headsets. (Although now endorsed by the NHS, tDCS is only in the first stages of being rolled out here in the UK.)
This wide variety of treatments now enable treatment programmes to be tailor-made to each individual. i.e. If a particular treatment does not work for one individual, then an alternative can be quickly implemented to better help them - along with a whole suite of additional therapies to complement and accelerate therapeutic progress.
But treatment is only the first part a patient’s journey; rehabilitation and reintegration complete it. So, to focus on Fierce Calm, their headline descriptor is of an organisation who ‘works alongside Ukrainian partners to strengthen rehabilitation during treatment, after discharge and within the communities where people rebuild their lives.’ In other words, rehabilitation and reintegration; facilitating a return either to military service, or - and potentially very disorientating for veterans - a return to a now alien civilian world, that they now have to navigate with either life-changing physical injuries, PTSD - or in many cases, both.
To illustrate the range of rehabilitation needs:
At the Galychyna Rehabilitation Centre, I met a young, exuberantly positive South American volunteer who had lost his leg below the knee, but was in turn desperate to complete his treatment and get back to his military unit.
Conversely, at The Hab, I respectfully kept my distance and quietly observed physically and mentally smashed veterans who, no longer fit for military service, were continuing their treatment and rehabilitation in a residential programme. They were being taught how to survive in civilian life again, encompassing things as simple but vital as how to cook, clean themselves and just move around. This might sound straightforward, but try doing this with 3 of your limbs missing, let alone with the mental weight of PTSD pressing you down.
I was also happily relieved to see at The Hab that they have a number of dogs resident there. To the unknowing, this might seem like a cuddly ‘nice to have’. They are, of course, certainly this. But far deeper, dogs have consistently been shown to have hugely beneficial effect on veterans with PTSD. They pull your attention from the inner blackness onto something external that offers unconditional love – which you cannot help but then reciprocate. They teach you to be human again. I know this now. I have a dog.
Again, it was impressive to see how Fierce Calm is embedded within the treatment and rehabilitation at The Hab – not as a competitor, but as mutually supportive, complementary partner, strengthening both organisations’ output to maximise every personally tailored effect on each patient. And Fierce Calm is there to continue to support each individual after they have been discharged.
This is why Fierce Calm’s mission is vital, as the structure and professional support offered to patients during inpatient care can otherwise suddenly disappear when they are discharged and return home. In cases of PTSD, this can lead to relapse, or worse: suicide.
Specifically, and ‘working with Ukrainian partners, Fierce Calm supports:
Clinical psychology and neuropsychology.
Psychosocial rehabilitation and peer support.
Adaptive sport, including archery and sailing.
Therapeutic gardening and nature-based recovery.
Chess and cognitive rehabilitation.
Family and community programmes.
Practitioner education and professional exchange.
Organisational capacity building.
Rather than creating parallel services, Fierce Calm helps trusted Ukrainian organisations strengthen existing provision, test new responses and connect specialist rehabilitation with community life.’
To be clear: aside from the helpful CBT treatment I received for PTSD in the UK, I received nothing approaching the ongoing rehabilitation and community reintegration offered by Fierce Calm to Ukrainian veterans. My life may have turned out differently if I had.
I will never knock the treatment I received for my PTSD here in the UK. It saved my life. But to quote Fierce Calm again: ‘Recovery does not end when someone is discharged’. Or rather, it should not end.
In my case, it did. But in Ukraine and through the work of Fierce Calm, these veterans now have a second chance at life. They obviously deserve it. But Fierce Calm needs our help to continue and expand their life-saving work. They need our help to help their veterans.
The Head of Clinical Psychology at Galychyna reports that patients there ‘often ask how they can continue the programme after returning home or to service’. This is indicative both of the success of the programme and the importance of Fierce Calm’s post-discharge work. But it also highlights the limitations of what Fierce calm can do, with the resources they currently have. So, this is where we come in. We have the opportunity and capability to channel the resources to Fierce Calm that they need, so they can maintain and expand their vital work, ensuring no man or woman is left behind as each try to reforge a second life after war.
With just the passage of a few years from my treatment and discharge, it was made very clear to me in April that Ukraine is as fast-innovating, advanced, pioneering – and far-sighted – in the rehabilitation of mental and physical injuries, as it is with the constant evolution of drones to strike back against the Russian war machine while preserving Ukrainian lives. In both spheres, we have now reached the stage where we have much to learn from them. But all these efforts need to be resourced, so they desperately need our help to continue and expand the incredible work they do. So, this is where we come in. It is the very least we can do to support these people, who are fighting for survival - and on our behalf. They are the bulwark of liberty against aggressive tyranny in Europe and they are paying for it with their destroyed minds and bodies. We cannot afford not to support them, both on the battlefield and in each individual’s personal afterwards. We owe them this and more.