Integration
When Magda fled Kyiv in May 2022, she left behind more than just her home.
As an assistant director working in Ukraine's film industry, Magda was forced to leave a career she loved and spent years building. "I loved my job. I loved everything about my job," Magda recalls.
Starting life in the UK
Arriving in the UK with her 11-year-old daughter, Magda faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives in Oxfordshire. Now that she was more than 1,500 miles away from home with a new culture and a new language, small tasks like using public transport became challenging. "I was so scared...," she explains.
It was during her first few weeks that Magda discovered the International Rescue Committee’s support for Ukrainians. For more than two years, the IRC has been providing vital cultural orientation, job skills training, wellbeing workshops and more.
The IRC has provided support to Ukrainians since 2022, including integration courses and wellbeing workshops.
Photo: Inna Gordiienko
After joining the Orientation course and Job Readiness programme, Magda credits staff with helping her navigate the unfamiliar UK job market. "It helped me a lot, I received advice on my CV and cover letter, as well as mock interviews," Magda explains.
Making an impact
Since it started in 2022, the Ukraine response project has supported around 1,000 people to rebuild their lives in the UK. In delivering this support, Yuliia knows only too well the challenges Ukrainians face. After fleeing her home in Chernihiv, she joined the IRC in October 2022. Drawing from her own experience, Yuliia helped lead online courses and English conversation clubs and also supported job training programmes.
“The feedback from those we've helped has been heartwarming,” Yuliia says, continuing: “Many have thanked us for helping them find homes, enroll their children in schools, and access necessary services, saying our support made these processes easier.”
Mental health
As well as practical support to access services and employment, the project has also focussed on the mental health of Ukrainians, with the team launching Wellbeing Days which have now been attended by 164 clients.
Inna, a Bilingual Integration Officer at the IRC, led sessions on trauma and stress management, as well as techniques to support wellbeing. Inna also created a four-week mental health course to teach coping skills tailored for Ukrainian refugees' experiences of displacement, loss and uncertainty. This has now been attended by 146 Ukrainians so far.
"The more projects led by Ukrainians on mental health, the more support people are going to get,” she says.
IRC Wellbeing Day's included workshops on trauma and stress management, as well as a relaxing yoga session.
Photo: Naomi Bartram for the International Rescue Committee
Anna, who also works as a Bilingual Integration Officer at the IRC, lived in Kyiv for 10 years and built her career working in international development with the Ukrainian Government, but had to leave in 2022.
Emphasising the importance of the emotional support provided in these sessions, she says: "The long term impact on the clients' life is that they managed to reduce the level of stress after moving to the UK. They received the basic knowledge of navigating life in the UK as well as a sense of community and support.”
Rebuilding her life
For Magda, this support system has helped her and her family to rebuild their lives in the UK. Today, she is now a support worker for a Ukrainian community organisation, assisting other refugees and their sponsors. While it's a world away from her film industry career, Magda finds the work deeply rewarding. "I like when people are smiling and happy," she says.
After recently welcoming a new daughter, Magda is feeling hopeful about the future with her family, as she says: "Here a lot of dreams come true. We waited for our second child for 10 years and here in the UK, it's realised."
The IRC’s work in Ukraine continues, but the funding for this support in the UK has come to a close. If you would like to donate to help our UK programmes continue to support individuals to integrate into their new lives please do so here.
The IRC provided wellbeing days for Ukrainians who have been forced to leave their homes due to the escalation of the war.
Photo: Inna Gordiienko
What is the International Rescue Committee?
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. We work in over 40 crisis-affected countries.
The IRC in the UK
In addition to helping people in the midst of crises around the world, the IRC helps refugees living in the UK recover and rebuild their lives. Read about our UK programmes.
