OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Whether it’s rebuilding after violent storms or after war, Heartland Family Service says picking up parts goes beyond fixing houses and finding food and clothes.

It also requires addressing the trauma of the disaster.

“It’s something that happens maybe two or three months later,” said President and CEO John Jeanetta. “Trauma starts to show to people in a way that they may not understand or understand at the time.”

This is what a Ukrainian delegation learned last week in Nebraska and Iowa.

While their disaster may be from bombs instead of storms, it’s still something they’ll eventually have to work to come back from.

“We will have a lot of problems and social problems, actually,” said Poltava, Ukraine’s Deputy Mayor Tetiana Bardina.

“This visit and all the meetings were very interesting and they were all really helpful.”

Heartland Family Service said it has worked to help connect people with counseling and other resources throughout the pandemic and, in the wake of the 2021 law, to help people deal with these mental wounds before they turn into into larger issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence, job loss, as well as impeding rebuilding efforts.

“You can start a downward spiral instead of an upward spiral,” Jeanetta said.

This support for mental and behavioral health is something Ukrainians said they don’t have much of in their country.

“All the information we got, it’s very useful,” Bardina said. “It’s a very high level of organization, actually. So we need all these things in my country.”

They don’t wait until the last bullet is fired in the country’s war with Russia to think about it. The purpose of their visit is to learn how what programs in the United States they can incorporate in their country for when the dust settles.

“He’ll have to rebuild,” Jeanetta said. “So they’re simultaneously trying to deal with a disaster, to recover in the moments when the violence isn’t happening — and then they’re also looking to the future, knowing that when it’s over, they’ll have a lot of work to do.”

Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.