A PSYCHOLOGIST has told of the heavy toll the war in Ukraine is having on pandemic-scarred Irish children.
Dr Claire Crowe warned that some kids are having trouble sleeping due to anxiety over the dangers in the world.
But the doc says that parents can mitigate the fear by helping their sons and daughters to assist in getting aid to the war-ravaged country.
She told the Irish Sun: “The wave of psychological need right now is something that we’ve never seen before.”
CHILDREN OF WAR
Ukrainians flee their homes in their hundreds of thousands every day, too terrified to stay and in fear of what lies ahead.
Many are the Children of War, making their way sometimes alone across Europe, running from the devastation being inflicted on Ukraine.
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Some, like primary school pupil Polina who died when her family car was shot at, didn’t make it.
At least 71 children have died so far in Putin’s war which has forced close to 3 million people to flee Ukraine.
As many as 40,000 children are expected to be among 100,000 people coming to Ireland in the coming months as Russia lays siege.
Some 5,500 are here now, dotted around a country which is learning quickly to adapt to the worst humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War 2.
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Dr Crowe says many Irish children are struggling to cope with the horrors from afar, so soon after the pandemic which turned their worlds upside down.
‘FEELING DISTRESSED’
With 10,000 on HSE waiting lists for mental health appointments, the paediatric clinical psychologist says the war is playing on the minds of many of her patients.
She told the Irish Sun: “Even people walking into the clinic now, we’re seeing a lot of kids who are feeling very distressed about what’s happening in Ukraine.
“Kids that are feeling anxious are now feeling that the world is really unsafe and now you have kids who are having sleep problems and other difficulties in coping with what feels like a very scary world.”
The Russian airstrike on a children’s and maternity hospital – just one of mounting atrocities – in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol last week killed five people, including a child and later a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
The smiling face of Polina, the young Kyiv girl murdered by “Russian saboteurs” was just one image that can haunt those young people struggling to cope with the horrors.
ADVICE FOR PARENTS
Dr Crowe is advising parents to take two steps to help their children deal with the terror of the war in Ukraine: limit exposure to the news and empower kids to do something to help people in Ukraine.
She said: “There’s two major things that I tell parents. One is to be careful about the amount of exposure to media and to talk them through it.
“The other thing is to help kids feel like they are part of the solution. So get involved in those Ukraine appeals. If your kid is coming with you shopping then get them to fill the trolley with whatever is needed in the Ukraine appeal.
“Let them feel like they are part of the solution because we’re seeing a lot of kids who are anxious kids that are feeling quite overwhelmed.”
Red Cross warns that even if the war ended today, the consequences will be felt for years to come.
All over the continent, volunteers are stepping up as families and unaccompanied minors spill in to foreign lands.
Some 20,000 Irish homes have been offered up, while people here have donated more than €14.5million to the Red Cross already – around €3 for every man, woman and child in the country.
