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We are proud to announce that our article, “Supporting the Mental Health of Ukrainians in Sweden Affected by Forced Transnationality Due to Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion,” has been published in Tidsskrift for psykisk helsearbeid, a Norwegian academic and professional journal.  

Drawing on the insights from HUG’s Better You&Me project, the article explores forced transnationality – the ongoing cross-border relationships, responsibilities, and decisions that people must navigate after being forced to leave their homes.  

Family Life Across Borders

Russia’s full-scale invasion has drastically changed family lives of millions of Ukrainians: some people remain separated across borders, others have reunited, and some relationships have been collapsed by distance and uncertainty.  

Many people who have settled in Sweden remain deeply involved in the lives of relatives and communities in Ukraine. They follow rapidly changing events, stay in daily contact, provide practical support and care, and make important family decisions from afar. These cross-border responsibilities have become part of everyday life, alongside work, studies, parenting, and building a future in a new country.

Forced transnationality takes many forms, raising children in Sweden while a partner remains in Ukraine, caring for older relatives from afar, or trying to sustain a relationship through prolonged separation; and its impact reaches far beyond practical arrangements. Each situation carries its own emotional strain, which, alongside integration pressures, can intensify anxiety, exhaustion, and depressive states.

A Family-Sensitive Approach to Recovery

In Better You&Me, support is delivered in the native language and shaped around calm, predictable settings. Participants can meet individually, join a group, or take part through drawing, listening and simply being present.  

A family-sensitive approach starts with the story people bring with them and the pressure they carry. In individual conversations, participants can make sense of how separation has changed family roles, relationships and expectations for the future, and develop new strategies for supporting themselves. In group settings, they can share experiences and rebuild a sense of belonging.

For mental health professionals and community organisations, a family-focused understanding of displacement is essential. It helps create support that responds to people’s individual and collective needs, while recognising the cultural and national contexts that shape their experiences.

Article https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/tph.23.3.5  

Anxiety levels among Ukrainian refugees in Sweden have risen in recent years – today, more than seven in ten report high levels of anxiety. At the same time, a recently completed pilot project shows that low-threshold, peer-support groups can help reduce isolation and strengthen participants’ mental wellbeing. The project Facilitating Refugee Integration through Dedicated Mental Health Support (FRID) has been implemented by Reach for Change, Help Ukraine Gothenburg (HUG) and MIELI Mental Health Finland since April 2025, involving a total of 134 people in Gothenburg, Kungälv, Trollhättan, Helsingborg, Lund and Eslöv. Participants describe reduced loneliness, new social networks and a sense of finally being able to speak openly, often for the first time since leaving Ukraine.

The FRID project used the TOIVO peer support group model, originally developed by MIELI Mental Health Finland for migrant communities in Finland. Each group was led by two trained facilitators, who were also from Ukraine. Participants met once a week for eight sessions. Each meeting combined a shared activity, such as cooking, sports, museum visits or creative activities, with guided reflection on the experience, following the principle “Act/Do - Feel - Reflect”. The approach was adapted to the Swedish context and to the specific needs of Ukrainian participants through collaboration between MIELI Mental Health, Help Ukraine Gothenburg (HUG) and Reach for Change. In total, 134 people took part in the project from Gothenburg, Kungälv, Trollhättan, Helsingborg and Lund between October 2025 and May 2026.

“It was a very important and emotional experience for me, because I realised how important community is for people to feel well. And how small steps and interventions can make such a huge difference to people’s wellbeing and support them in their everyday lives,” says Halyna Romanuik, TOIVO group facilitator, Gothenburg.  

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, around 49,000 Ukrainians have been granted temporary protection in Sweden. An earlier survey from 2024 by Help Ukraine Gothenburg found that more than half of respondents felt lonely and almost eight in ten experienced high levels of anxiety, an increase from 68 percent in 2023*. At the same time, access to support through the regular healthcare system is often limited by waiting times, a lack of care available in Ukrainian, and complex pathways into the system.

“In the evaluation of the project, all participants confirmed that they had made at least one small change in their daily lives that contributed to improved wellbeing, and we saw the same positive effect among the facilitators. It is a clear demonstration of the power of the approach, when people are given the opportunity to support others, it also strengthens their own wellbeing,” says Mariya Melnyk, Project Manager, Help Ukraine Gothenburg.

“Seeing the TOIVO model work just as well outside Finland, with a new target group and within a different welfare system, was incredibly rewarding and inspiring for us. It demonstrates the potential of the model and how it can be adapted to serve different needs. These are insights and knowledge that other countries and organisations can now build on,” says Melis Ari-Gurhanli, Senior Planning Officer, MIELI Mental Health Finland.

FRID has been funded through the EU’s ESF+ Social Innovation+ initiative and will formally conclude in October 2026. Looking ahead, Reach for Change, HUG and MIELI hope that more organisations will make use of the model. The report now launching publicly has been designed as a practical guide for organisations looking to implement the approach.

“This project shows clearly what social innovation can achieve: new, accessible and low-threshold support tailored to the needs of a specific group, filling a gap that traditional healthcare often has limited capacity to address. But we could not have achieved this on our own. This is the result of bringing together our different areas of expertise and having the courage to build something new together,” says Saga Ekstam, Project Manager, Reach for Change.

*Based on the survey conducted by HUG. Read the full report: Report

The full report is available for download here: Report

At HUG for Heroes, we use physical activity as a tool for recovery and reconnecting with yourself. Through movement, veterans learn to release tension in the body, calm the mind, restore energy, and rediscover what their bodies are capable of. Just as importantly, adaptive sport creates space to experiment.  

Together with our participants, we spent a day at Tjörn Golf Club - and for many, it was the first time trying this activity after injury.  

Golf is often seen as a game of precision, but here it becomes something deeper - a practice of balance and patience. It also has a quiet, meditative side. Standing on the green, our participants describe a rare kind of calm: a moment where the mind stops racing and simply follows the ball.  

Adaptive sport gives veterans a safe space to explore those possibilities. It can help rebuild a sense of agency, confidence and enjoyment in movement - and remind participants that an active life can take many different forms.

Thank you to Svenska Golfförbundet andTjörn Golf Club for creating such an amazing day for HUG for Heroes!

In 2022, many Ukrainians came to Sweden with one thought in mind: this is temporary. They would stay safe, wait for the war to end, and return home. Four years later, that temporary reality has lasted long enough to become something else.

More than 60% of Ukrainians in Sweden have found some form of employment. Many have learned Swedish, started working or studying, and built everyday lives here. In other words, people have adapted to their new reality. But the conditions around them have not always adapted at the same pace.

For many Ukrainians, the future still comes with uncertainty:  

How long can I stay? What should I plan for? Is it worth investing in education? Can I make long-term decisions about work, housing or my children’s future?

These questions may sound administrative. Their consequences are not.

Mental wellbeing is closely connected to our sense of stability, belonging and ability to plan our lives. Living with prolonged uncertainty can affect all three - especially when there is no clear timeline for when that uncertainty might end.

This is an area HUG has been working with since 2023. Through our mental health and community-based programmes, we have worked directly with Ukrainians experiencing uncertainty, isolation and difficulties with integration.  

At Frihamnsdagarna, HUG co-founder Kateryna Aleksandrova brought this practical experience into a wider conversation, joining Veronica Liliedahl, Oksana Shmulyar Gréen, Khrystyna Hevchuk and Nataly Lamkén to discuss what prolonged uncertainty means for Ukrainians in Sweden.

The discussion explored how uncertainty affects wellbeing, how integration challenges can add to mental health pressures, and how different rules and circumstances shape people’s lives depending on when they arrived.

For HUG, taking part in conversations like this is an opportunity to bring the experience from our programmes and work with communities into a broader public dialogue — connecting what we see on the ground with research, policy and lived experience.

When a temporary situation lasts for years, it is no longer enough to ask how people are coping with it. We need to ask whether the systems around them are keeping pace with the lives they are already building.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the discussion, and to Frihamnsdagarna for creating space for this conversation.  

Last week, HUG hosted a screening of "Capable" - a documentary directed by Kadim Tarasov and produced by Andrii Rizol, as part of the international Empowered UA film marathon. The film tells the story of Ukraine during the full-scale war - a country defending its freedom while continuing to create, protect human rights and shape its place in Europe. Through the stories of artists, musicians and human rights defenders, "Capable" shows another side of Ukraine: its ability to create, lead and move forward even in the face of war. At HUG, we see cultural and educational events as a way to build a more informed and connected Ukrainian-Swedish society. Bringing stories like these to Sweden creates opportunities to see Ukraine from different perspectives and engage with the people and ideas shaping the country today. The war is central to understanding Ukraine today, but it is not the only story Ukraine has to tell. Who we are, what we create, what we believe in and how we shape our society are also part of that story. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to the "Watch Ukrainian!" Association, Сhаritable Foundation «MHP-Hromadi» and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for bringing the Empowered UA film marathon to audiences in Sweden.

On 24 August, Ukraine marked 35 years of independence. For Ukrainians around the world, Independence Day is both a celebration of the country’s freedom and a reminder of the ongoing effort to defend it. This year, the HUG team joined the celebrations in Stockholm, alongside representatives of Ukrainian organisations and initiatives from across Sweden.

HUG team visited Unity Hub Stockholm - a space created to connect Ukrainian organisations and initiatives, strengthen cooperation and bring together resources and opportunities for the Ukrainian community in Sweden. There, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Sweden, Svitlana Zalishchuk, spoke about what independence means today, and the price still being paid to defend it.

The celebrations then continued with a march through Stockholm. Hundreds of people walked through the city under Ukrainian flags, before gathering at Sergels torg for a concert and speeches marking Ukraine’s Independence Day.

What stood out most for us was seeing so many Ukrainian organisations and initiatives come together. Different backgrounds, different areas of work, different experiences - but one shared purpose to support Ukraine.

We are proud to be part of this incredible community and grateful to everyone who came out to show their support. Thank you to Ukrainian Volunteer Hub - Stockholm, STFU Tacticats, Nordic Ukraine Forum, Kvartyrnyk UA-SE and PLAST - Ukrainska Scouter i Sverige for organising the event, together with the Embassy of Ukraine in Sweden and with the support of ICMPD / Unity Hub Stockholm.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Stockholm and continues to stand with Ukraine.  

On Sunday, 23 August, the HUG team joined the event marking 35 years of Ukraine's independence in Gothenburg, organized by Gothenburg Stands With Ukraine, the local Ukrainian community, Plast Ukrainian Scouts, and Ukrainian School Vinochok.

At Gustav Adolfs Square, the contrast was hard to miss. Ukrainian flags filled the space, music played, and families gathered to celebrate. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, people woke to air raid sirens — families waiting for news from the front, another night bringing drones and missiles over Ukrainian cities.

HUG co-founder Kateryna Aleksandrova spoke about this contrast, and why independence matters so deeply when it is still being defended every day:

"Independence lives in a child who keeps going to school despite air raid sirens. In a business that opens in the morning after a night of attacks. In a doctor who keeps working when the power goes out. Ukraine is not a country waiting for the war to end before it starts living again. Ukraine lives now."

During the event, we were honoured to present the HUG for Heroes photo exhibition, sharing the stories of Ukrainian veterans and their lives after the front.

The exhibition offers a glimpse into the people behind the word “veteran” - their experiences, challenges, strength and the new realities they are building around themselves. It is also part of our effort to bring Ukrainian veterans’ voices into Swedish society and create more space for their stories to be seen and understood.

Having the opportunity to display the exhibition at such a meaningful public event in Gothenburg was especially important to us. Independence is not an abstract idea for the people portrayed in these photographs. It is something they have defended, and something they continue to carry with them into the next chapter of their lives.  

The HUG for Heroes exhibition is available to be shown at other events, organisations, schools, workplaces and public spaces. If you would like to host the exhibition or explore an opportunity to bring these stories to your community, we would be happy to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and showed their support for Ukraine. We HUG you! 💙💛

We are always glad to hear from our partners in Ukraine that humanitarian aid has arrived safely and is reaching the people who need it.

This time, HUG delivered essential hygiene supplies to the Dnipro region. The donation reached an organization providing social and psychological support to around 1,000 children across the region, as well as a specialized veterans’ hospital providing medical, psychological and rehabilitation care for military personnel and veterans.

The war continues to place enormous pressure on local organisations and healthcare services. Access to essential supplies helps them meet everyday needs and continue providing care to people whose lives have been deeply affected by the war.

We are very grateful to Essity for making this donation possible and to our partners in Ukraine for ensuring that it reaches the people and facilities that need it.

Every delivery is part of a wider effort to strengthen the local organisations and services that continue providing essential care to people affected by the war. 💙💛

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Help Ukraine Gothenburg delivered a large humanitarian donation from our partners at Essity to hospitals and healthcare facilities in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. 🇺🇦

The shipment included essential hygiene supplies for people receiving medical treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care. The supplies were delivered to hospitals providing emergency and planned care for adults and children, facilities providing rehabilitation and palliative care, as well as institutions supporting older people and people with disabilities.

Humanitarian support is often associated with the most urgent needs. But it is also about the everyday things that make healthcare and care possible. By helping provide these essentials, we support local facilities in the important work they do every day.

We are grateful to Essity for making this support possible and to our partners in Ukraine for keeping us updated as the humanitarian aid reaches the facilities that need it.

We continue working together to support Ukrainian healthcare and communities affected by the war. 💙💛

Last week, our team and volunteers came together at the warehouse to pack a large donation of monitors as humanitarian aid. It took a full afternoon of hands-on work to get everything sorted, boxed, and ready to go. The donation was made possible thanks to our friends at HiQ Gothenburg.

Very soon, these monitors will travel thousands of kilometres to Ukraine, to reach the people and organizations who rely on this kind of equipment every day.

Support like this shows what it means when businesses choose to stand with Ukraine, not just in words, but in action. Choosing to contribute, share resources and stand with people affected by the war is one of the ways the private sector can make a real difference. We at HUG are happy to be part of this effort.💙💛

Thank you to HiQ Gothenburg, for your trust and generosity. And a special thank you to our incredible volunteers who helped us pack and prepare the monitors for their journey.

Together we make a difference, step by step. 💙💛

Another truck loaded with humanitarian aid left Sweden for Ukraine, carrying medical equipment and essential supplies that will soon reach hospitals and healthcare providers working under the constant pressures of war.

For many hospitals across Ukraine, especially in front-line cities and regions closest to active combat, stable access to medical supplies is never guaranteed. Equipment wears out, stock runs low, and the needs of medical teams shift from week to week. Humanitarian aid deliveries help hospitals and clinics keep treating patients, responding to emergencies, and functioning through long periods of uncertainty.

This work is not a one-time effort. Delivering direct humanitarian assistance to frontline regions and communities affected by the war remains a central part of Help Ukraine Gothenburg's mission. As long as the war continues, so does the need for consistent, reliable support.

Each shipment depends on organizations and people who choose to support this work repeatedly - turning individual contributions into a systematic, dependable channel of aid. We're grateful for every partner who makes that possible, and for the trust placed in HUG to carry this support to where it's needed most.

Thank you to Salhgrenska University Hospital, Bräcke Diakoni Skövde, Lönns Trucks, Volvo Group, Volvo Defence, our incredible volunteers and everyone who helped make this delivery possible.

Would you or your organisation like to support our next humanitarian shipment?

Contact us at: contact@hug.ngo

In early August, the HUG team took part in Donsö Boat Show, out on the island of Donsö in Gothenburg’s southern archipelago.

The island was full of life, with boats, exhibitions, market stalls, and plenty of people coming together to enjoy a beautiful summer day by the sea.

Together with our amazing volunteers, we welcomed visitors to our stand, where they could buy Ukrainian treats, enjoy a cup of coffee, and try our beloved Always-Win Lottery. Most importantly, the day allowed us to raise funds for summer camps for Ukrainian children affected by the war.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone who stopped by, we raised 12,580 SEK to support this initiative.

But events like Donsö Boat Show are more than fundraising. They give us a chance to meet people in the local community, tell them more about HUG and the work we do, and create new opportunities for people to get involved and support Ukraine. Our volunteers play a huge part in this. By giving their time and energy and representing HUG at events like this, they help us build connections and bring our work closer to the community.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who stopped by, supported our fundraiser, or simply took the time to talk to us — and to our wonderful volunteers who brought so much warmth, energy and good spirit to the day.

Our volunteer Artem recently took on a challenge of his own: 15 days and more than 300 km on foot along the Bohusleden trail, from Gothenburg to Strömstad.

He chose to take on the journey to raise awareness and support for HUG’s fundraiser for five armoured CASEVAC vehicles for Ukraine - life-saving vehicles used to evacuate wounded soldiers and civilians from the frontline.

For us at HUG, this is what community is all about. We are always inspired to see people who believe in what we do find their own ways to contribute and turn their ideas, time and energy into something meaningful.

Sometimes that means volunteering at an event or helping spread the word. Sometimes it means coming up with a completely new idea and taking it all the way - just as Artem did. Every one of these contributions helps us move our initiatives forward and reach more people.

Artem’s journey brought attention to an important HUG fundraiser, but it also showed how much can happen when people decide to take action themselves. And that is something we are incredibly grateful for.

Thank you, Artem, for taking on this challenge, believing in the cause, and showing what community can look like in action.  

And a heartfelt thank you to everyone who followed his journey, encouraged him along the way, or supported the fundraiser.

Together, we make a difference.

For the second year in a row, HUG (Help Ukraine Gothenburg) took part in Almedalen Week. This year, we came with an important mission: to bring greater attention to the experiences and needs of Ukrainian veterans while sharing what we have learned through our work with veterans and their families.

To strengthen these conversations, we invited our friends and partners from Ukraine to join the HUG delegation in Visby. The delegation brought together Ukrainian veterans and participants of HUG for Heroes, combat medics, military professionals, and civil society leaders with first-hand experience of war, veteran recovery, and life after service.

Among them were:

Oleksandr Tereshchenko - People’s Hero of Ukraine, former Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, and civil society leader.

Viktor - veteran of the 95th Air Assault Brigade.

Ivan - Lieutenant Colonel, National Guard of Ukraine.

Oleksii - drone unit commander, National Guard of Ukraine.  

Oleksandr Borys - combat medic, tactical medicine instructor, and evacuation systems specialist.

Throughout the week, members of the delegation took part in panel discussions, lectures, meetings, and conversations with Swedish decision-makers, defence professionals, researchers, veterans, and civil society organisations.  

Oleksandr Tereshchenko joined the panel “Ukrainian veterans and democratic resilience: lessons for reintegration”, organised by the Swedish Defence University and the Folke Bernadotte Academy. Drawing on his experience as a servicemember, policymaker, and civil society leader, he brought a first-hand perspective to discussions on veteran reintegration, democracy, social inclusion, and trust.

Our delegation also brought practical experience into discussions on preparedness and resilience. Combat medic Oleksandr Borys shared the latest realities of medical evacuation in Ukraine and presented HUG’s work to transform civilian vehicles into evacuation vehicles. Together, HUG and Oleksandr are now developing reinforced armoured casevacs to respond to the growing threat from drones and improve protection during evacuation.

Beyond the panels, our Ukrainian guests met with Swedish leaders and senior representatives from the defence and security community, including Pål Jonson, Benjamin Dousa, Ann Linde, Michael Claesson, Jonny Lindfors, Mattias Ardin, Mikael Frisell, Micael Johansson, and others. The conversations covered modern warfare, UAV technologies, total defence, veteran reintegration, and the lessons Ukraine’s experience can offer Sweden and Europe.

For us at HUG, Almedalen is about more than bringing people together for a week. It is about creating opportunities for people with very different experiences to meet, listen to one another, and learn from each other.

We are grateful to everyone who welcomed our Ukrainian delegation, shared their time and knowledge, and helped make these conversations possible. We look forward to continuing the dialogue and to make steps forward for future partnerships and collaborations. 💙💛

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More businesses are choosing to turn their values into action, and we are proud to see this movement grow.

We are happy to welcome Elvine as a new partner of The Ambulance Initiative - a fundraising campaign launched by Help Ukraine Gothenburg and Omnistaff to support the purchase of ambulances and rescue vehicles for Ukraine.

As part of this collaboration, Elvine has dedicated a selection of products to the initiative. For every item marked with the HUG logo purchased through their website, 10% of the sale goes directly to The Ambulance Initiative. Every contribution is used exclusively to help us to purchase life-saving vehicles for Ukraine.

Thank you, Elvine, for your trust, commitment, and for standing with Ukraine. Together, we make a real difference.

Explore the products included in the initiative and support the campaign through your purchase: https://www.elvineclothing.com/sv/collections/the-ambulance-initiative