Healthcare workers from Uzhhorod and Mukachevo climbed Mount Hymba, from where they descended to the picturesque Shypit waterfall. This trip is a kind of mountain therapy and part of the project "Psychological Support for Medical Workers", which is being implemented by the professional team of the NGO "Vigorous Moment" in partnership with the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya and with the financial support of the Fondation de France.

The doctors and nurses from Zakarpattia hospitals were accompanied by a guide Yuriy Cheryanyk and a psychologist Anna Tyurina.

"Thanks to the psychologist, we concentrated on nature and our own feelings, not on gadgets, as usual, we were silent, we heard the sounds of birds. Without the psychological part, it would have been just a round trip, but we had the opportunity to think about a lot of things", the nurses who took part in the event commented on their impressions.

To be distracted from everyday activities to hear interesting and useful information about the nature and history of the region, to practice various techniques of interaction with nature using the senses, to have fun in the company of colleagues is actually quite rare for modern medical workers.

Iryna, a pediatrician from Mukachevo, when asked about her current situation, said:

"It has become harder to work because my psychological state has deteriorated during the war. There are constant depressing news, my relative was killed in the war, my fellow student was also killed. Every morning I pass by the city center, where I see his photo among other fallen heroes. People around me have become more stressed. Once I was lucky enough to take part in a program of free psychological support from doctors, which helped me a lot. Now I feel that I miss it".

Iryna, like most of the event’s participants, noted that paying for psychological services on her own is not an easy task at the moment. So she is glad that psychological practices were part of the activities that day.

Among other things, doctors said that such events distract from the chronic stress they experience at work. The level of stress has increased over the two years of full-scale war, in particular, along with the increase in the number of bad news, anxieties and patients.

"If we talk about psychological culture and psychological care for patients, there must be work with doctors. The medical staff is in difficult circumstances, because as soon as you recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, a full-scale war began, you found yourself under double pressure. We predict that you will have even more work in a few years, and possibly in a year, as people start to get sick because of the war. That is why we focus on high-quality programs that would help the entire hospital in a comprehensive manner. Mountain therapy is a resource that remains around us regardless of funding. Sometimes just taking off your robe, going outside the office, taking a walk is a very big step towards rebooting", project manager Lyudmyla Baletska addressed the participants of the event.

This is the first, but not the last, mountain therapy of the project, and soon such an event will be held for doctors in Ivano-Frankivsk region.