NK Crisis: In autumn 2023, Armenia experienced a massive influx of individuals following the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) conflict starting on 19 September. According to the Government of Armenia, over 100.000 people arrived in Armenia at the end of September 2023 to seek support for the settlement in their new home. Those displaced to Armenia left behind their homes, valuables, livelihoods, essentially most of what constituted their material possessions. The mental and emotional strain that the displaced have endured over months will affect them for years to come. It is expected that this will have a serious impact on their physical and mental health as well as their social and economic integration.
The RENEW project is being carried out by the Armenian Red Cross Society with the support of the Austrian Red Cross. It is funded by the European Union through its Humanitarian Aid Operations and is running from December 2023-April 2025 the RENEW project aims to improve the living conditions as well as psychosocial well-being of in total 15.000 women, men, girls, and boys displaced by the conflict in NK in the regions of Ararat, Armavir, and Kotayk. It focuses on three areas: Improved psychosocial well-being, cash and voucher-assistance and supporting people from NK to find employment and income generation.
MHPSS Support: A mix of different measures will allow the displaced population of NK to recover from the trauma they have suffered. The RENEW project offers access to mental health and psycho-social support services, through individual and group counselling, facilitating support groups, running a 24/7 helpline, establishing child-friendly safe-/learning spaces (Smiley-Clubs), and the provision of sensitization training for teachers and pupils.
Group Counselling: Group counselling sessions offer displaced individuals a supportive environment where they can gather and connect. Led by trained psychologists, these sessions provide a space for sharing experiences, expressing emotions, and receiving support from peers. Topics discussed are, for example, “Psychological consequences of armed conflicts”, “Coping Strategies and dealing with stress”, or “How to talk to children about war and displacement.
"On one of the saddest days in my life, Liana, the psychologist, gave me strength with her words and approach. She told me I must continue living and helped me process my pain and loss. She taught me to live again,” Margarita, a forcibly displaced people from NK.
Case Story Syuzanna: Syuzanna lost her husband during the war in NK in September 2023 and is now living in the Ararat region of Armenia with her four children. She was very stressed, felt burned out, and cried a lot. She was angry with her children frequently and had difficulty communicating with them. She has attended the group counselling sessions conducted by ARCS with pleasure, even though her mother-in-law was initially sceptical about her attendance. She especially liked the visualization exercises. This is a process to imagine an ideal situation for oneself and helps to focus on the positive aspects of life. She liked to imagine her home in NK in her dreams and mentally moved there. When asked by her family members why she visits those sessions, she answered that they make her feel good and she likes the atmosphere. She noted that after the sessions she became more lightweight and tranquil:
“I felt myself more relaxed when I attended the sessions. I started communicating with my children in a more peaceful manner and I can respond to them with more understanding”.
Individual Counselling: In case of a greater need for support, individual counselling sessions are offered. Usually, one or two individual counselling sessions take place; if a person has a greater need, more sessions can be offered.
Case Story Narek (a 5-year-old boy, displaced from NK): Leaving NK to Armenia was very stressful for Narek. He used to cry a lot and was asking to go back home. He could not sleep alone at night, nor stay alone in a room in the daytime, because of his fears. He frequently woke up at night and asked for water several times at night. His general attitude had changed after coming to Armenia, and he had regular headaches. These changes in his behavior and attitude posed a big problem at school and home. His mother insisted him to visit an ARCS psychologist , although the rest of his family was against this. His mother noted that after 6-7 individual sessions, big changes took place in Narek’s behavior and well-being. He began to sleep peacefully at night, even alone in a separate room. He also became calm, and his headaches disappeared gradually.
Community Counsellors:
Six community counsellors, who are all trained psychologists, are supporting displaced people through group and individual counselling sessions.
Lilit Qardumyan (Community Counselor, Psychologist):
“Through both group and individual sessions, one of the crucial, motivating, empowering outcomes is the revival of people’s trust, faith in the future, a sense of certainty and stability. For forcibly displaced people from NK, the biggest loss is often their belief in the future. When we see hope and trust returning to their eyes, trust in themselves, others, and their resources, they come to believe that they will be able to overcome this too.”
Liana Muradyan (Community Counselor, Psychologist): “…sometimes it’s warming to listen (to our group participants from NK). Sometimes we even see that our single presence can transform their pain into power through one meeting.
Self-support groups: Participants of group counselling sessions are supported to establish self-support groups, which serve as the cornerstone for community transformation and facilitate essential changes. Self-support groups are being established in 3 targeted regions of Armenia, bringing the total number to 21 groups. Self-support groups get together with pleasure and conduct the meetings with joy, supporting each other in sharing their challenges. Self-support group meetings are conducted outdoors. Participants organize a variety of activities and excursions across Armenia to get to know each other and their new environment better. They stressed that as a result many of them became more peaceful, friendly, and communicative.
Training for teachers: Training teachers in Psychological First Aid (PFA) is crucial as they often play a significant role in supporting NK displaced students who may be affected by the conflict escalations and displacement. Equipping teachers with gender and culture-sensitive PFA knowledge and skills, as well as trauma-informed approaches, enables them to recognize signs and symptoms of distress in students, provide initial support, and refer them to appropriate professional resources if needed. This can contribute to creating a supportive and resilient and discrimination-free learning environment for students. In March-December 2024, 26 PFA trainings were provided to the 416 teachers in Ararat, Armavir, Kotayk and Yerevan.
“The PFA training has given us the confidence and skills to support our students from NK and local students emotionally, creating a more caring, safer, and resilient school community,” said a teacher, participant in training.
“The PFA training was very productive, because we recognized that the skills and methods learned during the training can be used and successfully used in everyday life”, told another teacher, participant in training.
